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[UO Herald] House of Commons update

Vlaude

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UNLEASHED
...

Yes, they said they had discussed Free-To-Play, but it was not on the table as a possibility.
Yeah, no. Their answer to that was that they were making all decisions based on keeping the game entertaining and alive. You've added your own interpretation to that :)

People should watch the video for themselves for answers.
 

Storm

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my interpretation is it will not be f2p! But as some have said wait for the video!
 
W

Woodsman

Guest
So what exactly did they commit to doing, specifically with higher res art and the EC?
We would be getting it in "chunks" so that clear progress could be seen and that it would be easier to make sure that everything gets updated.

My take is that we would get it in chunks so that players could pour over it and do a lot of the QA on it. From their point of view it would also be a lot easier for the artists if they only focused on one part of the artwork at a time. Houses in one batch, monsters in another, character artwork in another, scenery in another, etc.

I'm not pancakes about doing it this way so that it's easier for players to do QA on it - the more eyes the better, and you can bet there will be a lot of eyes pouring over it. If they do it this way and they say check this type of artwork, you can bet they'll hear about it if they missed anything in that grouping :gee:

One thing that did concern me, when asked about GMs and training or something, the whole team just looked at each other and then at the camera and said
"Thats not our department"
*shrugs*
Why would you be concerned about that? That stuff is running at the level of BioWare, if not EA as a whole. We share GMs with Warhammer and Camelot, and we'll be sharing GMs with Star Wars. That might even boost response times, since they would hire more GMs for Star Wars. That's assuming they don't close down Warhammer when Star Wars launches and that would free up some resources for Star Wars.

That's been going on for years. Even if we got a boost of hundreds of thousands of new UO players, we'll still be sharing GM resources from here on out with others in EA.
 

Viquire

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Why would you be concerned about that? That stuff is running at the level of BioWare, if not EA as a whole. We share GMs with Warhammer and Camelot, and we'll be sharing GMs with Star Wars. That might even boost response times, since they would hire more GMs for Star Wars. That's assuming they don't close down Warhammer when Star Wars launches and that would free up some resources for Star Wars.

That's been going on for years. Even if we got a boost of hundreds of thousands of new UO players, we'll still be sharing GM resources from here on out with others in EA.
My concern was mainly for the fact that they seemed to have no idea or opinion or involvement in what the GMs get trained on, or how, for dealing with UO players.

You might think they would have said "that is a question for so and so," or "that dept is still integrating with Bioware so we'll have more on that maybe later, right now we are focusing on..." as they did on several other questions. This seemed to be a whole different ball of wax.

Its not necessarily the sharing of resources that is bad, its the not having one hand have any idea what the other is doing the disturbs me.
 

Gorbs

Sage
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...we'll be sharing GMs with Star Wars. That might even boost response times, since they would hire more GMs for Star Wars. That's assuming they don't close down Warhammer when Star Wars launches and that would free up some resources for Star Wars.
In other words, I should prepare for telling me they are sorry, but they cannot replace lost ewoks.
 
W

Woodsman

Guest
My concern was mainly for the fact that they seemed to have no idea or opinion or involvement in what the GMs get trained on, or how, for dealing with UO players.

You might think they would have said "that is a question for so and so," or "that dept is still integrating with Bioware so we'll have more on that maybe later, right now we are focusing on..." as they did on several other questions. This seemed to be a whole different ball of wax.

Its not necessarily the sharing of resources that is bad, its the not having one hand have any idea what the other is doing the disturbs me.
Welcome to corporate America and being the low man on the totem pole.
 
H

Heartseeker

Guest
So no new booster pack, no classic shard, and no game fixes.......

Not sure how many people care one way or another about Magincia, nor do I see new players in the game.

What a waste of time.

Well, we did get more promises though....lol

These guys sound more like politicians everyday.

Oh ya, we might get better graphics; I think I heard that somewhere before.

Luckily for the team, the people who play this game have very low expectations and are satisfied with a little fix now and then....
 

G.v.P

Stratics Legend
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Not yet ! I know Watcher is working on one that she recorded for stratics !
It takes a while for the vids to be rendered and uploaded so be patient please!
As to the herald video I am not going to put my paw in that one!:party:
Storm...I'm not patient. However, I have edited video, and I know how long HD vids can take to process, and render, haha. Okay, I shall wait. ;)
 

HD2300

Certifiable
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Stratics Legend
So no new booster pack, no classic shard, and no game fixes.......

Not sure how many people care one way or another about Magincia, nor do I see new players in the game.

What a waste of time.

Well, we did get more promises though....lol

These guys sound more like politicians everyday.

Oh ya, we might get better graphics; I think I heard that somewhere before.

Luckily for the team, the people who play this game have very low expectations and are satisfied with a little fix now and then....
'When you see the new items you will see the booster at the same time. Soon. It will not be a full booster.' ... from the HOC.

So my hunch is that the 'it will not be a full booster' will be a housing mini-booster. Deco items + new tileset(s) + increase in storage space.

Gawd. Is it just too much to expect a couple of new champs and peerless every 6 months?
 

G.v.P

Stratics Legend
Stratics Veteran
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The enhanced artwork will be coming in batches. That is related to the EC since only the EC will get the artwork.

It seems like most of the time was dealing with items people wanted.
Will be interesting to see what they fix, or change in the EC. However, as long as UO remains 2D, I don't think the EC can ever improve upon the 2D experience, other than improved UI. I hope EA will consider a 3D UO, but then again, part of me feels like when UO shuts down, I should probably grow up and stop playing MMORPGs lol.

Customizable keeps and castles won't be done
That sucks. I'd pay for that change. I don't see why it would be so hard.

Luna does a good job of immediately removing you from the game, because the houses are just so horribly designed and only meant to showcase the vendors.
Well, I´d rather have the houses belong to people that actually wants to be a part of Magincia and perhaps would bring some life into the town than them belonging to someone who only wants a plot to place vendors on, be part of the search sites and make gold. And who will add nothing to the town of Magincia.

So by disallowing vendors perhaps the "greedy" people will show no interest/stay out and we will see house-owners who actually care about giving the town a lively feeling.
I know why people don't like Luna, but I don't like wasting my time finding vendors either. I also think people gloss over the owners in Luna who build auction houses, put out runebooks and libraries, vet rewards accessible to everyone like dye tubs and crystal portals, all kinds of stuff. I play almost every shard now (every non-Asian shard, at least), and I can't tell you how many times I've used a leather dye tub in Luna, or used a crystal portal to mark runes. There are quite a few people who own houses in Luna who do make UO a better experience for me, that's all I can say.

Oh I also asked about if they would add new deco items on the game store and change them randomly. They were a little confused but Mesanna was on the right track. When the question was presented they didnt add the part that I typed that the resources( the money off the sales) go back into UO.

So if the devs read this I'll explain what I meant. Just an example. They add say a new deco candle to the game that lights up when you come in your house for $2.00. Its on sale on the uo store for 2 months. Then after 2 months you take down that item and add another new item like a stuffed coil snake that hisses when you walk by it for sale at $2.00. Keeps it random and fresh with a constant flow of small deco items for possible pixel addicts.
Cool idea.

Why would you be concerned about that? That stuff is running at the level of BioWare, if not EA as a whole. We share GMs with Warhammer and Camelot, and we'll be sharing GMs with Star Wars. That might even boost response times, since they would hire more GMs for Star Wars. That's assuming they don't close down Warhammer when Star Wars launches and that would free up some resources for Star Wars.

That's been going on for years. Even if we got a boost of hundreds of thousands of new UO players, we'll still be sharing GM resources from here on out with others in EA.
My concern was mainly for the fact that they seemed to have no idea or opinion or involvement in what the GMs get trained on, or how, for dealing with UO players.

You might think they would have said "that is a question for so and so," or "that dept is still integrating with Bioware so we'll have more on that maybe later, right now we are focusing on..." as they did on several other questions. This seemed to be a whole different ball of wax.

Its not necessarily the sharing of resources that is bad, its the not having one hand have any idea what the other is doing the disturbs me.
At the Fairfax meet-up, I asked whether the browser game, Lord of Ultima, gave UO any returns. Of course, Cal looked at me funny, because I assume they don't really communicate with that game and their developers.

I think some of our questions are really just out of their realm. Hehe sort of like an investor question. When it comes to a big company like EA, there are so many parts. It's like asking someone in New York to give you the local news for Los Angeles.

Anyway, I'm upset, a little, that I missed the chat. One of the things I've been trying to get into the game is instanced corpses while still being in a party. Would encourage team play and maybe help this game out some.
 
J

[JD]

Guest
Anyone got a video posted? I missed the stream.

Also I don't even see the pub 70 patch notes anywhere.

All this stuff should be on UO Herald, as well as edited into the first post... (suggestion for next time)
 

Storm

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publish 70 is not out yet and the video is being worked on!
 
C

Cal_Mythic

Guest
Yeah, no. Their answer to that was that they were making all decisions based on keeping the game entertaining and alive. You've added your own interpretation to that :)

People should watch the video for themselves for answers.
Correct.
Thanks for this post :)
 
C

ChReuter

Guest
Yeah, no. Their answer to that was that they were making all decisions based on keeping the game entertaining and alive. You've added your own interpretation to that :)

People should watch the video for themselves for answers.
Correct.
Thanks for this post :)
How is that even an answer to the question Cal? Of course all decisions must be based on those goals, but just responding with such an obvious statement is in no way answering the question.

I don't care about FTP in the least bit, but these sort of answers are just annoying. Maybe your talents and services would be better suited somewhere else perhaps? I enjoyed it better when we just weren't given answers. Sad...
 

Storm

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How is that even an answer to the question Cal? Of course all decisions must be based on those goals, but just responding with such an obvious statement is in no way answering the question.

I don't care about FTP in the least bit, but these sort of answers are just annoying. Maybe your talents and services would be better suited somewhere else perhaps? I enjoyed it better when we just weren't given answers. Sad...
Its a matter of never say never !
 

Willard

Seasoned Veteran
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Not realy sure why I even watch these? They never realy answer any guestions fully or in detail--they mostly just leave us hanging with more unanswered questions.

Instead of taking questions that will never get answered, I would much rather see the Divs decide on a few things before hand that they can tell us and go into detail about it. At least that way we would come away from these feeling like we actually learned something.
 

JC the Builder

Crazed Zealot
Stratics Veteran
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Campaign Benefactor
Why was the video not recorded on the Ustream channel so everyone can go back and watch? (like me who forgot it was yesterday)

This video format does not work at all. The developers are always going back and forth wondering if they can reveal this or talk about that. The only way a video format will work is if they determine what can and can not be discussed prior to the chat.
 

GalenKnighthawke

Grand Poobah
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
I enjoyed it better when we just weren't given answers.
Let us please not encourage less communication.

Instead of taking questions that will never get answered, I would much rather see the Divs decide on a few things before hand that they can tell us and go into detail about it. At least that way we would come away from these feeling like we actually learned something.
Good idea. More opening statement, less Q&A. (I guess ideally we'd have the same Q&A in addition to an opening statement, but realistically I know it'd be a trade-off.)

We should come away knowing some detail about what's likely to come next.

For example, I still feel I don't know enough about what they have in mind for shorter scenarios/event cycles. Perhaps if they had to talk for, say, 20 minutes before the Q&A, they might have gone into more detail at least as to what the thinking was. I also feel I know very little about the timing and outline of the looming climax of the In the Shadow of Virtue arc.

And finally, I'm unclear about Magincia. Something about a housing lottery, but there'll be some NPC buildings as well, and I heard mention of a cathedral.

My eyes opened wide at that, it sounded really cool, but they made no further mention of it. Again, perhaps if they had to talk for, say, 20 minutes before the Q&A, we might have learned more.

-Galen's player
 

Vlaude

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UNLEASHED
my interpretation is it will not be f2p! But as some have said wait for the video!
An interpretation is an interpretation and should be labeled as such. Some people who didn't have the chance to watch the video are coming here looking for answers and it's not fair to give them your interpretation of an answer as a final one. They should be able to read or watch the actual answer given and have the chance to form their own interpretation of it (if even necessary).
 
V

Vyal

Guest
if you watched it try to remember word for word what was said and post it
 

Storm

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An interpretation is an interpretation and should be labeled as such. Some people who didn't have the chance to watch the video are coming here looking for answers and it's not fair to give them your interpretation of an answer as a final one. They should be able to read or watch the actual answer given and have the chance to form their own interpretation of it (if even necessary).
Is that not what I did?
 

HD2300

Certifiable
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Stratics Legend
my interpretation is it will not be f2p! But as some have said wait for the video!
An interpretation is an interpretation and should be labeled as such. Some people who didn't have the chance to watch the video are coming here looking for answers and it's not fair to give them your interpretation of an answer as a final one. They should be able to read or watch the actual answer given and have the chance to form their own interpretation of it (if even necessary).
Awww crap I guess everyone wants a mage tower now. :lol:
 

Cear Dallben Dragon

Babbling Loonie
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UNLEASHED
Why was the video not recorded on the Ustream channel so everyone can go back and watch? (like me who forgot it was yesterday)

This video format does not work at all. The developers are always going back and forth wondering if they can reveal this or talk about that. The only way a video format will work is if they determine what can and can not be discussed prior to the chat.
This.

The last video I saw on ustream was archived on the ustream site. I watched it when i got home.

and whats is the deal with all this "the video is being worked on" stuff?
You tube... upload. If i had used camtasia too record that it would have been on line for people to see in about two hours depending on the length.
 
C

ChReuter

Guest
Why was the video not recorded on the Ustream channel so everyone can go back and watch? (like me who forgot it was yesterday)

This video format does not work at all. The developers are always going back and forth wondering if they can reveal this or talk about that. The only way a video format will work is if they determine what can and can not be discussed prior to the chat.
Cut them some slack will ya? They only had three months to figure it all out. Hardly enough time to iron out what should and shouldn't be discussed...
 
C

ChReuter

Guest
I enjoyed it better when we just weren't given answers.
Let us please not encourage less communication.
Communication? They might as well just say "No comment", it would present the same level of "communication" and be at least a little less annoying.

Besides, I'm only interested in their communication if it involves an exchange of ideas between the player and the dev team. Some here might disagree with me and that's cool, but as I see it, it's awfully one sided.
 

Storm

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This.

The last video I saw on ustream was archived on the ustream site. I watched it when i got home.

and whats is the deal with all this "the video is being worked on" stuff?
You tube... upload. If i had used camtasia too record that it would have been on line for people to see in about two hours depending on the length.
So we can expect you to record them from now on and have them posted! in two hours thanks for volunteering!

I know the people here working on stratics are all volunteers! We all have other things in RL to do to! So i am thinking you can be a little patient with us!
 

Cear Dallben Dragon

Babbling Loonie
Stratics Veteran
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UNLEASHED
So we can expect you to record them from now on and have them posted! in two hours thanks for volunteering!

I know the people here working on stratics are all volunteers! We all have other things in RL to do to! So i am thinking you can be a little patient with us!
If i'm at home when it happens absolutely. And no problem, i was a stratics volunteer for two years.
 
B

BeefSupreme

Guest
How is that even an answer to the question Cal? Of course all decisions must be based on those goals, but just responding with such an obvious statement is in no way answering the question.

I don't care about FTP in the least bit, but these sort of answers are just annoying. Maybe your talents and services would be better suited somewhere else perhaps? I enjoyed it better when we just weren't given answers. Sad...
Maybe in giving a 'no comment' answer he was afraid of blowing the boards up with speculation?

EA is a public company. Switching a game to F2P affects the bottom line, and employees have to be careful saying anything publicly about issues like that as those types of annoucements have to be done through an official company press release first.
 
T

Trash Collector

Guest
As a house owner already on Magincia, was there any word what happens to the already established homes? From the last thing I saw, it really sounded like houses on the north beach were safe.
 
S

Sevin0oo0

Guest
Watcher is working on one that she recorded for stratics !
It takes a while for the vids to be rendered and uploaded so be patient please!
this Watcher person works w/ Cal(EA) or is just another poster here at stratics?

I render video also, avi, xvid, mkv(yuk), wmv, divX. It just doesn't take that long. If they didn't know what they were doing, they could ask. with vlc player(free) they can even do sharpness,brightness, etc. what was this video, 30mins? cut it in half, u/l.
If the links have already been posted, sorry, no harm meant
 
C

canary

Guest
As a house owner already on Magincia, was there any word what happens to the already established homes? From the last thing I saw, it really sounded like houses on the north beach were safe.
Correct, you just get to keep your house.
 

Sargon

Seasoned Veteran
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Campaign Supporter
So... over 24 hours since the HoC and still no video posted? Great job guys. Please just go back to the standard HoC chats so that people can actually post logs.
 

soze

Seasoned Veteran
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
So... over 24 hours since the HoC and still no video posted? Great job guys. Please just go back to the standard HoC chats so that people can actually post logs.


yeah, what is the deal? someone had to have anticipated people would want to see it
 
W

Woodsman

Guest
So... over 24 hours since the HoC and still no video posted? Great job guys. Please just go back to the standard HoC chats so that people can actually post logs.
I posted this in the other thread, it's not a video, but if you want to spend a lot of time reading:

March 1, 2011 UO Video House of Commons Transcript Part 1 | UOJournal.com

March 1, 2011 UO Video House of Commons Transcript Part 2 | UOJournal.com

March 1, 2011 UO Video House of Commons Transcript Part 3 | UOJournal.com

March 1, 2011 UO Video House of Commons Transcript Part 4 | UOJournal.com

I would skip all of that and just read this:

A Breakdown of Last Night’s UO Video House of Commons | UOJournal.com
 

G.v.P

Stratics Legend
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
* Cannot use Crystallized Essence to buy bricks
Huh?

* Haven will be returned to Occlo (Trammel)
Does this mean Old Haven will cease to exist, or just a name change?

* Small soul forge will be able to be placed on Brit ship in the future.
Sweet :)

* Work is being done on the part of Ter Mur that is inaccessible, as well as current unused ingredients/quest items.
Nice :)
 

Tina Small

Stratics Legend
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Thank you very much, Deckard of UOJournal, for all the time you put into preparing and posting the transcript.
 
J

[JD]

Guest
Storm nobody is dinging Stratics or expecting Stratics staff to work faster.. on the contrary, THANk YOU for your volunteer efforts. They are much appreciated!

the people running UO, who we pay subscription fees to, on the other hand.... 2 days later after HOC, still no video uploaded. you people have heard of YouTube right?

Did nobody think to record it, you didn't forsee that not every player would make the HOC and would want to watch it later?

Seriously... I mean if you read my posts, you'll see I defend the makers of UO plenty, tell people to cut out the negative attitude etc. But there just gets to be a point when the things we see you do, we just have to wonder what in the world is going on over there.

Some official reply to when a video will be posted would be appreciated.

And thanks to the UO guy who posted transcripts. Random UO player > All of UO staff apparently.
 

Cogniac

Grand Inquisitor
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
This.

The last video I saw on ustream was archived on the ustream site. I watched it when i got home.

and whats is the deal with all this "the video is being worked on" stuff?
You tube... upload. If i had used camtasia too record that it would have been on line for people to see in about two hours depending on the length.
So we can expect you to record them from now on and have them posted! in two hours thanks for volunteering!

I know the people here working on stratics are all volunteers! We all have other things in RL to do to! So i am thinking you can be a little patient with us!
I don't believe that was meant as a slight against Stratics. It was meant as a slight against EA. It's their video, they should have been smart enough to record it as it was being streamed. It shouldn't automatically be the job of fan sites to take charge of these sorts of things.

Next thing you know, EA will start releasing all of its communications as giant walls of random letters; it will be fansites' job to re-organize the letters into words and sentences.
 

JC the Builder

Crazed Zealot
Stratics Veteran
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Campaign Benefactor
All the developers had to do was press a button on Ustream to start recording and then press it again to stop recording. Then you input the title of the clip and it is automatically archived on the Ustream channel. Why they have not done this I don't know. It is literally that easy.
 

GalenKnighthawke

Grand Poobah
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Communication? They might as well just say "No comment", it would present the same level of "communication" and be at least a little less annoying.

Besides, I'm only interested in their communication if it involves an exchange of ideas between the player and the dev team. Some here might disagree with me and that's cool, but as I see it, it's awfully one sided.
I, for one, want to know what's coming, whether I have a say or not. This team hasn't communicated with us the best; to discourage communication is self-defeating at best.

-Galen's player
 
W

Woodsman

Guest
Thank you for all of the hard work :).
I copy and pasted from the other thread, so not much, heh. I wouldn't have even known about it if I hadn't met one of the people behind it at an EM event.

This video format does not work at all. The developers are always going back and forth wondering if they can reveal this or talk about that. The only way a video format will work is if they determine what can and can not be discussed prior to the chat.
Agreed. When you go back and forth discussing if you can discuss it, that's wasted time. I didn't see any questions asked within the live chat that weren't asked on UHall previously, and they could have easily came up with a list of questions, presented it to them an hour before, and then rolled camera. Certain questions they would simply say they couldn't answer and then move on. More questions could have been answered.
 
F

Fayled Dhreams

Guest
Agreed. When you go back and forth discussing if you can discuss it, that's wasted time. I didn't see any questions asked within the live chat that weren't asked on UHall previously, and they could have easily came up with a list of questions, presented it to them an hour before, and then rolled camera. Certain questions they would simply say they couldn't answer and then move on. More questions could have been answered.
:scholar: Ah! another ancient, familiar with the efficacy of the 7P's ... I thought I had detected the ancient knowledge within your "speech" ...
*frowns*

I fear that any old established knowledge of "proper process" will remain lost upon our current "team"
Cal hisself invoked one of the old keystones: No Excuses ...

He repeats it without having LEARNED it.

*shrugs and slumps* :(
 
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