Wow! I just found this on UO Herald...

[Guest]

Additional Server Publish Notes Jeremy Dalberg27 Nov 2007 11:44:34 EST

There were a number of changes that didn't get listed on last night's server publish - all the notes below the cut are in addition to the previously posted notes:- Upgraded loot for legacy and Samurai Empire high end monster loot, to more closely match Mondain’s Legacy monster loot. This affects mostly boss monsters, but has some impact on other high end monsters as well.

- Solen powder quest now rewards 4-5 powder.

- Bags of sending now use 1 charge per 10 stones of weight, rounded up. (15 stones would use 2 charges, for example)

- Significantly buffed up the Felucca champ spawn bosses.

- Increased the chance to get better power scrolls from champ spawn bosses.

- Increased the chance to get better items as loot from champ spawn bosses.

- Lowered Dread Spider difficulty.

- Lowered Dread Spider loot to match new difficulty.

- Swoop has been buffed.

- Faction stone now checks to make sure that a character is 30 days or older before allowing them to join a faction. Existing characters that are less than 30 days old are forced to quit factions when they log on.

- "Young" characters and characters less than 30 days old can no longer use faction stones or faction recruiting stones.

- Players can no longer invite a character less than 30 days old to a faction guild.

- Fixed a bug with the Tsuki Wolf that was preventing it from dropping the correct loot



KNOWN ISSUES:

- The chance to get a powerscroll from protection is less than it should be.

- Champ bosses are regenerating HP too fast.

- Champ boss resists are a bit too high in some cases.

- Champ boss HP is a bit too high in some cases.

- Swoop is quite a bit more powerful than intended

 

[Guest]

you beat me to it. Except I stopped to bold the faction bits, so I deleted my thread.

 

[Guest]

No worries. I really like the faction changes. *smiles*

 

[imported_mo'gluk]

doesn't help TB I would bet its going to hurt TB if anything

 

[Rykus]

*sniffs*

This almost makes me cry with joy. This is a HUGE step in the right direction, especially the BoS changes. As much as I've enjoyed making tons of gold by sending it back, it did kill a part of the game in many ways. It looks like sending gold to the bank will now be prohibitively expensive, requiring more runs, making things just a bit more like they used to be before AoS. PK's will now actually see traffic to and from farming spots which will ultimately cause more overland travel and interraction.

YAY!

 

[Guest]

Fine with me, even though I do a lot of 2-3 person spawns. No word on the Siege CBD thing though.

 

[Tark_Smash]

Very nice!

Looks like some old UO coming back. We have hard monsters again, woot!

 

[Guest]

I think the CBD was a Wilki thing that he just snuck in. He has been saying he would do that for some time now.

 

[imported_mo'gluk]

yeah but I lost my orc mask.....

anyone know the limit on resists yet?

I will have to find a new orc mask taht fits

 

[Guest]

There are a couple of threads on Uhall seeking answers. May we could address the inability to add folks to certain factions as our next cause. I certainly need more TB scum to slay. *nods*

 

[imported_SavageSP]

<blockquote><hr>

yeah but I lost my orc mask.....

anyone know the limit on resists yet?

I will have to find a new orc mask taht fits

[/ QUOTE ]

Good luck finding one that fits "that Ugly Mug" of yours

 

[Guest]

The ROT change is still probably the highest priority.

 

[Guest]

*smiles* Perhaps...

 

[Guest]

Wow! Those are some major changes!

So much for bos'ing a huge pile of leather back. It looks like the maximum you'll be able to bos is 300 stones. It's a good change tho, imho, but I'll be running a lot more!

 

[Guest]

<blockquote><hr>

Faction stone now checks to make sure that a character is 30 days or older before allowing them to join a faction. Existing characters that are less than 30 days old are forced to quit factions when they log on.

[/ QUOTE ]
A good start indeed but it would be nice if factions would boot you if you haven't logged on for 30 days as well. Factions are supposed to active; no action no faction

!!!

 

[Guest]

<blockquote><hr>

This almost makes me cry with joy. This is a HUGE step in the right direction, especially the BoS changes.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, enjoy not ever having available resources to buy! Do you know how much of a pain it is to collect leather/bones/wood without a BOS?

 

[Rykus]

Ya, sure do. Did it for years before BoS's came out and am quite happy to be forced into it again. I've had a 7x GM+ crafter for about 8 years. I craft for myself, n00bs to Siege and for friends, but I still have to gather resources. I see BoS's as being as harmful to Siege as too many blessings.

This is a partial reversal on the instant gratification S*&amp;T that ruined much of the community feel of UO, not just Siege. Now they need to find a way to make smithy's populated again. Secure repairing in a trade window would be awesome and should have been implemented instead of those &amp;$#*$%! repair deeds.

I see these changes as a definite step in the right direction and an indicator that the devs are trying to undo the dmg done by developers past. 'Bout damn time too.

 

[Guest]

<blockquote><hr>

Secure repairing in a trade window would be awesome and should have been implemented instead of those &amp;$#*$%! repair deeds.


[/ QUOTE ]

I second that!

 

[Guest]

I'm willing to repair for anyone willing to trust me with their stuff anytime I'm at my vendors or in a town that has a smithy. Just ask.

 

[Guest]

<blockquote><hr>

Solen powder quest now rewards 4-5 powder.


[/ QUOTE ]
Just did both solen quests. Ambitious queen...killed 5 queens gave 50 mushrooms got BoS with 7 charges and 6 powder. The red solen quest seems the same, kill 7 infiltrators give 200 mushrooms and 8 water get 100 powder.

 

[Guest]

i really dont see the point of making the BoS change now, its about 5years too late to have any effect whatsoever to the economy other than making new players who actually farm gold from monsters to ever get any money, as well as making leather farming a whole lot more tedious.

 

[Rykus]

<blockquote><hr>

i really dont see the point of making the BoS change now, its about 5years too late to have any effect whatsoever to the economy other than making new players who actually farm gold from monsters to ever get any money, as well as making leather farming a whole lot more tedious.

[/ QUOTE ]

Is it really too late to end the war in Iraq? Was it too late to introduce a variety of economic reforms in the 20s and 30s to get us out of the Great Deperssion? Change for the better has to start sometime/somewhere or things never progress. I believe it most certainly will have an impact on everyone on every shard, directly or indirectly. Uvtha is concerned about gathering resources, others are concerned about farming gold. This could very well be one of the factors that has caused the UO economy to plummet in the past few years. Scripters will no longer be able to easily send their resources and gold to the bank. Farmers will now spend more time gathering resources and running them back, making them worth more. People will have a more difficult time of getting gold to the bank, thus making it more valuable over time.

No, this will not have a sweeping and immediate impact on things, but over time it will, just as over time it contributed in a huge way to destroying both the economy and several aspects of player interraction.

 

[Sergul'zan_SP]

I'm very pleased with the changes. If they continue in this direction, I might have to logon again...

 

[Guest]

<blockquote><hr>

<blockquote><hr>

Solen powder quest now rewards 4-5 powder.


[/ QUOTE ]
Just did both solen quests. Ambitious queen...killed 5 queens gave 50 mushrooms got BoS with 7 charges and 6 powder. The red solen quest seems the same, kill 7 infiltrators give 200 mushrooms and 8 water get 100 powder.

[/ QUOTE ]

Good. Thanks for checking this Aowyn. I think the weight-based powder usage is a more than sufficient change without making the powder harder to get.

 

[Guest]

<blockquote><hr>

This is a partial reversal on the instant gratification S*&amp;T that ruined much of the community feel of UO, not just Siege.

[/ QUOTE ]

Maybe so, but it effectively makes all dungeons in islh pointless, as well as any other hunting spot too far away from a moongate or an area where you can cast gate. I mean who is going to hunt in the rock dungeon now? Camp for 20 minutes then run to the gate for 3-4, then back to the dungeon for 3-4. Why bother? Or any other places like that.

I mean I guess its good because everyone will now be in one spot, but unless prices go down substantially its going to be a giant pain to get gold.

My real problem with this change is that its removing a part of a long sitting infrastructure without changing any other part of it. I can't see the value of gold/resources changing with this change, yet gold will be much harder to accumulate.

People who like to pvp, and buy their gold rather than camp will have less gold to buy etc...

This just seems like yet another change to try and curtail scripting that just ends up hurting people who actually spend their free time providing people with things they don't care to get themselves.

 

[Rykus]

<blockquote><hr>

<blockquote><hr>

This is a partial reversal on the instant gratification S*&amp;T that ruined much of the community feel of UO, not just Siege.

[/ QUOTE ]

I mean I guess its good because everyone will now be in one spot, but unless prices go down substantially its going to be a giant pain to get gold.

I can't see the value of gold/resources changing with this change, yet gold will be much harder to accumulate.

People who like to pvp, and buy their gold rather than camp will have less gold to buy etc...

[/ QUOTE ]

Aren't you really talking about the foundation of economics, supply and demand? If you have less of a desirable object, the price/value goes up. When that same object is easy to get and plentiful, the price/value goes down.

If gold and resources are now more difficult to accumulate, like say OH I dunno, before AoS, then doesn't it stand to reason that those products/commodities will increase in value?

I believe so...

 

[Sergul'zan_SP]

I would like to see the economy driven by crafters. That's what made the Pre-AoS economy so successful, it was not driven by hours and hours of farming (though you had the option to obtain extremely valuable items via t-hunting and fishing).

 

[imported_BlacK RaiN]

<blockquote><hr>

The ROT change is still probably the highest priority.

[/ QUOTE ]

actually PvM is...

Siege should be a fun place to play for all char types... not just crafters, roleplayers and PvPers... we can't forget about PvMers...

once Siege in its entirety is balanced... then we should probably look at

RoT
instanced dungeons/corpses
private housing
beneficial acts (sparing a guildmate and not being able to be resed after is lame.)
more faction fixes
so on...

but this is a huge step in the right dirrection... yay!

 

[imported_BlacK RaiN]

<blockquote><hr>

Maybe so, but it effectively makes all dungeons in islh pointless, as well as any other hunting spot too far away from a moongate or an area where you can cast gate.

[/ QUOTE ]

I guess you've never used any of the banks in the gypsie camps ever... huh?

And take more BoS or more powder if you have to... the risk vs reward is on point... Your out in the boonies where you probably won't see a pk patrolling getting lots of lewts.... but then if you do get PK'd you wind up losing a bit more than you would have.

It actually makes sense...

 

[Guest]

So you think people will be willing to pay 6k for a suit of barbed armor?

or 3k for some random furniture?

I don't.

And you can't compare the economic situation pre aos, and post aos. (BOS came before aos as well) Pre AOS, things were different. Dragons didn't die in 4 hits. 10k was a decent hunk of money, and it took more than 15 minutes to fill you pack with gold. People hunted earth elementals and liches. This is what I'm saying.

But It all really depends. Will the value of gold go up as much as the value of leather and wood and whatnot. Only time will tell, but at best I see us ending up with things the way they are now, but more time involved to get things.

Regardless of all this, a lot of places will now never see a player enter them, which I think is too bad.

I want to say, I was very against bags of sending when they first came out, but like it or not, the game has not been tailored in part around them, you can't just blast them into uselessness without changing other things. I mean you can of course, and it is indeed the prerogative of UO designers to put bad things into the game and only remove them once they have become fully entrenched in average gameplay, or once the point of no return is long past, time and time again.

Dosen't really matter much anyway, its in no matter what we think about it.

 

[Sir Ha-ward]

<blockquote><hr>

There are a couple of threads on Uhall seeking answers. May we could address the inability to add folks to certain factions as our next cause. I certainly need more TB scum to slay. *nods

[/ QUOTE ]

You need more? We put like 100 guys in TB the other day

 

[imported_BlacK RaiN]

<blockquote><hr>

Regardless of all this, a lot of places will now never see a player enter them, which I think is too bad.

[/ QUOTE ]

I countered this opinion of yours with one of mine. Your opinion on this will be considered total squat until you address it.

 

[Guest]

<blockquote><hr>

And take more BoS or more powder if you have to... the risk vs reward is on point... Your out in the boonies where you probably won't see a pk patrolling getting lots of lewts.... but then if you do get PK'd you wind up losing a bit more than you would have.


[/ QUOTE ]

Except for the fact that at the common going rate, each sends worth of gold will net you about 250 gold. And considering people will need more powder, and the powder suppliers will have to work even more, I doubt they would be willing to sell for less.

And as for the rock dungeon, yes, I'm aware of that bank, and in fact that is the one I was talking about when factoring a 3 minute trip to bank.

 

[Guest]

<blockquote><hr>

Your opinion on this will be considered total squat until you address it.


[/ QUOTE ]

Believe it or not you can converse with others without being a jackass.

 

[Terrydez169]

ROT whats the problem???its too late to worry about that .. they are all gone..

 

[imported_BlacK RaiN]

<blockquote><hr>

And as for the rock dungeon, yes, I'm aware of that bank, and in fact that is the one I was talking about when factoring a 3 minute trip to bank.

[/ QUOTE ]

which was my point... so you now have to run back to town/bank in order to dump it.

Do you know how much this slows inflation? I look at this as a good thing... having to do more for less.

Hunters will start placing houses by their favorite hunting spots... dungeons in key places on the map will see lots more traffic... and so on.

I come from the days you had to walk to the bank to drop stuff in it. Getting that lewt home back then was huge.... this might start promoting highway robberies and so forth...

I think its got more positives to it than negatives such as the one you're focusing on.

 

[Spree]

<blockquote><hr>

<blockquote><hr>

i really dont see the point of making the BoS change now, its about 5years too late to have any effect whatsoever to the economy other than making new players who actually farm gold from monsters to ever get any money, as well as making leather farming a whole lot more tedious.

[/ QUOTE ]

Is it really too late to end the war in Iraq? Was it too late to introduce a variety of economic reforms in the 20s and 30s to get us out of the Great Deperssion? Change for the better has to start sometime/somewhere or things never progress. I believe it most certainly will have an impact on everyone on every shard, directly or indirectly. Uvtha is concerned about gathering resources, others are concerned about farming gold. This could very well be one of the factors that has caused the UO economy to plummet in the past few years. Scripters will no longer be able to easily send their resources and gold to the bank. Farmers will now spend more time gathering resources and running them back, making them worth more. People will have a more difficult time of getting gold to the bank, thus making it more valuable over time.

No, this will not have a sweeping and immediate impact on things, but over time it will, just as over time it contributed in a huge way to destroying both the economy and several aspects of player interraction.

[/ QUOTE ]


Why did the image of John Blutarsky come to mind when I read this.

 

[imported_BlacK RaiN]

<blockquote><hr>

<blockquote><hr>

Your opinion on this will be considered total squat until you address it.


[/ QUOTE ]

Believe it or not you can converse with others without being a jackass.

[/ QUOTE ]

=[

 

[Guest]

WOW they are actually listening to some things.

NOW FIX STEALTHERS!

 

[Rykus]

<blockquote><hr>

Why did the image of John Blutarsky come to mind when I read this.

[/ QUOTE ]

LOL

 

[Rykus]

<blockquote><hr>

WOW they are actually listening to some things.

NOW FIX STEALTHERS!

[/ QUOTE ]

HEAR HEAR!! Remove auto-stealth and make people have to use stealth manually every few steps.

Indeed, fix stealth!

 

[Guest]

<blockquote><hr>


which was my point... so you now have to run back to town/bank in order to dump it.

[/ QUOTE ]

My point was why bother doing that, when you can hunt somewhere 20 seconds from a gate zone. The hassle of much time spent trucking gold is outweighed by the safty you get. And like I say, the bos is more or less useless for anything other than zipping out equippable items you don't want to loose.

<blockquote><hr>

Do you know how much this slows inflation? I look at this as a good thing... having to do more for less

[/ QUOTE ]

Bout as much as it slows resource gathering I wager. Its really neither good nor bad. It will balance out I would imagine, and nothing would have been accomplished but an increased hassle.

<blockquote><hr>

Hunters will start placing houses by their favorite hunting spots... dungeons in key places on the map will see lots more traffic... and so on.


[/ QUOTE ]

That I agree with.

<blockquote><hr>

I come from the days you had to walk to the bank to drop stuff in it. Getting that lewt home back then was huge.... this might start promoting highway robberies and so forth...

[/ QUOTE ]

So do I. I used to run all the way to brit bank from wrong, often on foot dodging pks all the way. But back then that pack full of gold would last me a LONG while. Now that same amount might net me a throw away ring.
I highly doubt there will be any highway robberies, the majority of people will just gate.

<blockquote><hr>

I think its got more positives to it than negatives such as the one you're focusing on.

[/ QUOTE ]

It has both. But It just really annoys me that they keep doing things like this. Addressing the symptoms rather than the causes.

 

[Rykus]

<blockquote><hr>

It has both. But It just really annoys me that they keep doing things like this. Addressing the symptoms rather than the causes.

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree with that sentiment wholeheartedly. I do however believe the BoS was actually the cause for many negatives and this is a good balance, and one that should have been there from the beginning.

Next they need to limit insurance to less than 5 items on Trammel facets and remove insurance from Felucca (but add the Siege bless option) on all non-Siege/Mugen shards. Hell, I might dust off my old Catskills chars if they did that.

 

[Guest]

I just wish some miracle would occur, and we wouldn't have to deal with all the tram bleed over code...

 

[Jakylpops]

The BOS changes are purely for the purpose of attempting to put a damper the AFK gold farmers that rule the prodo shards...have any of you seen them lately?

Most of them don't even bother to disguise what they're doing anymore simply because EA isn't bothering to enforce the rules. Now of course this is going to make them change a few lines of script, and maybe find a different hunting spot if they were in Ilshenar, but with recalling/sacred journey being so quick and easy, it really isn't going to slow them down much.

All it really does is make things slightly harder for the few honest players that remain.

While I think most of these changes are a step in the right direction, especially for Siege, the sad fact is that changes like this usually just lead to yet another wave of players leaving.

This is another bandaid fix that's really only meant to make EA look like they're "on top of things", but I guarantee they don't really want to make things too difficult for the cheaters...how many hundreds of accounts do you think would be cancelled if this ever happened? Do you see any huge influx of new players to replace them? Cheaters pay for accounts too and EA is well aware of this.

 

[Guest]

Looks like Swoops aren't going to be farmed like they have been.
Went to have a look to see how much they have been buffed. My
fully trained Cu, with high resists, was getting it's butt kicked.

 

[Guest]

The swoop change was LONG over due. That at least I can fully get behind.

 

[Guest]

Agreed. PKs are gonna have to find a new playground.

 

[imported_BlacK RaiN]

<blockquote><hr>

While I think most of these changes are a step in the right direction, especially for Siege, the sad fact is that changes like this usually just lead to yet another wave of players leaving.

[/ QUOTE ]

Does anyone here have any idea how many people play UO who don't pay for it?

Players do want what we have and its up to us to bring them here. What other game can any of you think of that has a large player base emulating a version of it because they hated what the developers did with it?

This game has a lot of fans... if these Dev guys were dedicated to really making UO.... Ultima Online again, people will come.

We have been making progress over the past few years... if no one has noticed.

 

[imported_Magnolia]

<blockquote><hr>

<blockquote><hr>

While I think most of these changes are a step in the right direction, especially for Siege, the sad fact is that changes like this usually just lead to yet another wave of players leaving.

[/ QUOTE ]

Does anyone here have any idea how many people play UO who don't pay for it?

Players do want what we have and its up to us to bring them here. What other game can any of you think of that has a large player base emulating a version of it because they hated what the developers did with it?

This game has a lot of fans... if these Dev guys were dedicated to really making UO.... Ultima Online again, people will come.

We have been making progress over the past few years... if no one has noticed.

[/ QUOTE ]

I never thought of it like that...that a large fan base had to take the game elsewhere to get the game they love...I wonder if the Dev have?