M
Megilhir
Guest
First and foremost, the person running this event, “Omo(?)” did well in his/her presentation of the event. This post addresses the deeper issue of content. No matter how good the cook, stone soup is still stone soup.
I attended a UO run event last night on Pacific and was thoroughly dissatisfied with the results. As a synopsis; Players were told by Town Cryers to meet Omo at the Western Healer’s Hut in Delucia at 6:00 PM PST. There was plenty of advanced advertisement. Omo walked up, interacted with the players, delivered a storyline and opened a gate to the Fire Dungeon. All good. From there things dissolved rapidly. The group proceeded to trot through the normal assortment of mobs (Monsters) until they met the Mini/Main Boss(es). Then there was a zerg (mass charge) battle accompanied by a number of “all-screen death spells (Omega Bomb)”.
Negatives: Content, Rewards, Death and Dying, Execution, Plot-line, Player turn-out.
Positives: UO had a real person run an event, event time length, doing an event with a herd (if small) of other players, pre-event advertising, Omo’s patience.
EXAMINATION
CONTENT: This was a dungeon crawl, plain and simple. Go in, smack and get smacked. While dungeon crawls are fun they are awkward to arrange for a spectrum of players. They are also shallow. Some developing characters that want to go will die to the first tough mongbat. Other players have Greater Dragons, maxed out templates and top of the line gear. So the question becomes how to merge the disparate capabilities and differences into a satisfying event at multiple levels.
FIX: One answer is by scaling the event. This takes more work but it can yield exponential results. For example; If characters have 100 to 360 skill points they are sent to a different portion of the event to accomplish different tasks. The events may not even coincide but may segue in the storyline. Think of it as lower henchmen (henchies) clearing the way and setting the conditions for their lords and ladies (L&L). Or perhaps they become a Lord or Lady as they travel through the story?
If the event is concurrent then the henchies/ALTs go to a separate area while the L&Ls go to the advanced area. If the answer is to sequence the events some people may argue that players have multiple characters and can attend both events. Excellent! Get those ALTs out and give them a run without all the bells and whistles. Rewards are commensurate with the difficulty.
REWARDS: Broken. Simply not effective in the least. I initially stood back in a combat support role, resurrecting, healing and curing other players. Doing this I died repeatedly from the Omega Bombings. For looting, unless you had a macro for “Open Corpse”, managed to have a faster connection (not UO’s problem but there it is) and could actually see beneath the dragon herd you had little to no chance of any reward for your effort. From my individual perspective I wasted about an hour of play time, died repeatedly and lost a lot of fame while damaging my gear with no benefit. Others players voiced similar opinions. Some will disagree with this assessment but as I stood in the Counselors Hall and watched the player responses they were mostly negative during the time I observed.
FIX: There are innumerable fixes to this. A simple one is the allocation of points for the event. Before we worry about coding let us examine one method. Each time the Event Manager (EM) opens a gate and you enter you gain points. You cannot enter as a ghost. Players cannot cast Gates, disable the ability. If you fall too far behind you have failed in the event. This is supposed to be a heroic or noble action. Not all heroes live and make it to the end of the adventure. That stated, have a number of invulnerable NPC Healers near the battle point so players can resurrect (rez). In this event the NPC Healers died frequently from the Energy Vortexes (EV’s) cast. By completing the stages (entering EM cast moongates etc) characters gain in points. Additionally, any damage done also equals points. As does Healing, curing, rezing and so forth. This takes more set up effort but once the template is established it is repeatable indefinitely. Points are cashed in at a special NPC who provides unique rewards. When you stop participating or fail to continue you still have the accumulated Event points.
DEATH AND DYING: Great loss, no gain.
FIX: NPC Healers need to be invulnerable and able to rez Blue/Grey/Red, if that is applicable to the storyline. There may be Murderer only events or other variants. Completing the entire event also yields an adjustment of Karma/Fame. Perhaps include a ‘one use’ NPC at the end who can repair all worn on character gear one time to full levels for a nominal fee. Be that fee Adventure Points or gold. NO Omega Bombs(OB). Tactics should matter. If people merely zerg into battle then the miniboss/boss should have options to deal with that. What evil leader doesn’t have some thralls around, or minions who have minions of their own? How about a retamer to confuse or attempt to take control of the pets? Now the tamer has to engage in a struggle for control of their pet. Not sit back and spam ALL KILL. Perhaps even a Dragon Overlord (or some other random legendary creature-adventure depending) that other Dragons simply will not attack. Maybe a Dark Aura to off-set Holy light or Enemy of One. A simple level one Shield spell that deflects a % of missiles or even sends them back at the Archer for a time period. The list goes on. Basically find the strengths of most common templates and neutralize them to a manageable level where tactics become more relevant without using the OB. And if you must use the Omega Bomb have an indicator before the cast comes and then players can take precautions. After my second death I rez’d, geared, walked 2 steps and died from another OB. Rinse and repeat. Not terribly fun.
There are a variety of other ideas but these are a start. For further fixes to UO EA can contact me via e-mail at: [email protected]
From there we can discuss possible future options.
I attended a UO run event last night on Pacific and was thoroughly dissatisfied with the results. As a synopsis; Players were told by Town Cryers to meet Omo at the Western Healer’s Hut in Delucia at 6:00 PM PST. There was plenty of advanced advertisement. Omo walked up, interacted with the players, delivered a storyline and opened a gate to the Fire Dungeon. All good. From there things dissolved rapidly. The group proceeded to trot through the normal assortment of mobs (Monsters) until they met the Mini/Main Boss(es). Then there was a zerg (mass charge) battle accompanied by a number of “all-screen death spells (Omega Bomb)”.
Negatives: Content, Rewards, Death and Dying, Execution, Plot-line, Player turn-out.
Positives: UO had a real person run an event, event time length, doing an event with a herd (if small) of other players, pre-event advertising, Omo’s patience.
EXAMINATION
CONTENT: This was a dungeon crawl, plain and simple. Go in, smack and get smacked. While dungeon crawls are fun they are awkward to arrange for a spectrum of players. They are also shallow. Some developing characters that want to go will die to the first tough mongbat. Other players have Greater Dragons, maxed out templates and top of the line gear. So the question becomes how to merge the disparate capabilities and differences into a satisfying event at multiple levels.
FIX: One answer is by scaling the event. This takes more work but it can yield exponential results. For example; If characters have 100 to 360 skill points they are sent to a different portion of the event to accomplish different tasks. The events may not even coincide but may segue in the storyline. Think of it as lower henchmen (henchies) clearing the way and setting the conditions for their lords and ladies (L&L). Or perhaps they become a Lord or Lady as they travel through the story?
If the event is concurrent then the henchies/ALTs go to a separate area while the L&Ls go to the advanced area. If the answer is to sequence the events some people may argue that players have multiple characters and can attend both events. Excellent! Get those ALTs out and give them a run without all the bells and whistles. Rewards are commensurate with the difficulty.
REWARDS: Broken. Simply not effective in the least. I initially stood back in a combat support role, resurrecting, healing and curing other players. Doing this I died repeatedly from the Omega Bombings. For looting, unless you had a macro for “Open Corpse”, managed to have a faster connection (not UO’s problem but there it is) and could actually see beneath the dragon herd you had little to no chance of any reward for your effort. From my individual perspective I wasted about an hour of play time, died repeatedly and lost a lot of fame while damaging my gear with no benefit. Others players voiced similar opinions. Some will disagree with this assessment but as I stood in the Counselors Hall and watched the player responses they were mostly negative during the time I observed.
FIX: There are innumerable fixes to this. A simple one is the allocation of points for the event. Before we worry about coding let us examine one method. Each time the Event Manager (EM) opens a gate and you enter you gain points. You cannot enter as a ghost. Players cannot cast Gates, disable the ability. If you fall too far behind you have failed in the event. This is supposed to be a heroic or noble action. Not all heroes live and make it to the end of the adventure. That stated, have a number of invulnerable NPC Healers near the battle point so players can resurrect (rez). In this event the NPC Healers died frequently from the Energy Vortexes (EV’s) cast. By completing the stages (entering EM cast moongates etc) characters gain in points. Additionally, any damage done also equals points. As does Healing, curing, rezing and so forth. This takes more set up effort but once the template is established it is repeatable indefinitely. Points are cashed in at a special NPC who provides unique rewards. When you stop participating or fail to continue you still have the accumulated Event points.
DEATH AND DYING: Great loss, no gain.
FIX: NPC Healers need to be invulnerable and able to rez Blue/Grey/Red, if that is applicable to the storyline. There may be Murderer only events or other variants. Completing the entire event also yields an adjustment of Karma/Fame. Perhaps include a ‘one use’ NPC at the end who can repair all worn on character gear one time to full levels for a nominal fee. Be that fee Adventure Points or gold. NO Omega Bombs(OB). Tactics should matter. If people merely zerg into battle then the miniboss/boss should have options to deal with that. What evil leader doesn’t have some thralls around, or minions who have minions of their own? How about a retamer to confuse or attempt to take control of the pets? Now the tamer has to engage in a struggle for control of their pet. Not sit back and spam ALL KILL. Perhaps even a Dragon Overlord (or some other random legendary creature-adventure depending) that other Dragons simply will not attack. Maybe a Dark Aura to off-set Holy light or Enemy of One. A simple level one Shield spell that deflects a % of missiles or even sends them back at the Archer for a time period. The list goes on. Basically find the strengths of most common templates and neutralize them to a manageable level where tactics become more relevant without using the OB. And if you must use the Omega Bomb have an indicator before the cast comes and then players can take precautions. After my second death I rez’d, geared, walked 2 steps and died from another OB. Rinse and repeat. Not terribly fun.
There are a variety of other ideas but these are a start. For further fixes to UO EA can contact me via e-mail at: [email protected]
From there we can discuss possible future options.
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IT.
