House of Commons from 2007-08-09

House of Commons from 2007-08-09

Destinova	Welcome to today's House of Commons chat with the developers of Ultima Online!
Destinova	To submit a question type /msg [QT]LBeff my question here! - questions sent to the developers will not be answered! We'll be doing a general chat today so any questions on the game are welcome.
Destinova	We'll begin with a brief introduction from our guests and then jump straight into the questions. The full logs will be available at http://uo.stratics.com shortly afterward.
Destinova	Also, feel free to join #ultima-online for open chat.
Draconi	Hey everyone, I'm Draconi, UO Designer at your service
Jeremy_EAMythic	Evening, I'm Jeremy, your friendly local Community Coordinator
GrimmOmen	Grimm, Technical Artist,
Jeremy_EAMythic	and man of few words
Destinova	*silver* question: with the EM program done for good and events basically at a standstill, what can we expect in the way of (hopefully) having big events soon? the general public is growing bored with lack of new content in game.
Draconi	Mwaha! Be careful what you wish for! (Have I said that before? Oh well!) I think you can expect something big, soon, and keep in mind we're very excited about our 10th Anniversary, and the future going into Stygian Abyss.
Draconi	Kronos is, after all, just now on the receiving end of some very helpful governmental support for his blackrock project. :) necessary
Jeremy_EAMythic	Glad you're enjoying these changes - we are looking forward to seeing them on live shards for a while. We are absolutely not done, but we want to wait a bit and get some more feedback before doing a second round
Destinova	*Foxster* When do the PvP changes go live?
Jeremy_EAMythic	The PvP changes will be going live during your shard's next maintenance!
Destinova	*Magnus* Question: Can we get an option to have HP bars on our targets like in 2D/3D, it gets kind of bothersome looking at the target box when everything is busy.
Jeremy_EAMythic	That's great feedback, and I am this minute adding it to my list of things for our UI specialist to look at over the coming weeks. In the meantime, by all means send stuff like this in as feedback via the forum on uoherald.com - it's exactly the sort of thing we're looking for.
Destinova	*Asterix* what is being done about speed hack programs?
Draconi	We can't discuss our plans for handling exploits or cheats, but this is definitely something we're aware of and discussing.
Destinova	*Magnus* Question: I have recently been playing the older Ultima games and there are some nifty spells in them! Why couldn't we have such spells added like 'fireworks' and 'Dance!' (My personal favourite! "Everybody DANCE now!")
Draconi	You know, I've been playing through UU:Stygian Abyss lately (gee, I wonder why?) and wow, Ultima has had some awesome spells in its time. Rest assured I think you'll see a resurgence of older spells make their way into our world!
Draconi	Of course...
Draconi	I could give you...
Draconi	No..
Draconi	I shouldn't.
Draconi	VAS KAL AN MANI IN CORP HUR TYM
	* Draconi runs away *
GrimmOmen	... and I'd like to add the animations in UOKR support Dancing as well as several other never before seen animations, and thier functionality will be available soon
	* Draconi dances... the night away! *
Destinova	*DermottLS* Will a house cache option be added to the KR client to help with house loading issues?
Jeremy_EAMythic	While I'm not sure offhand about caching specifically - *writes it down* - we have a couple of engineers working right now on improving house loading in KR - with luck, you'll see the fruits of their labor in the next patch or two.
Destinova	*Kiminality* Are there plans to bring the in-game character art more in line with the paperdoll art? For example, in game, the kilt has a sporran, when in the paperdoll doesn't
GrimmOmen	Firstly 10 points to you for knowing a sporran, secondly, yes, we'll definitely be fixing those small differences over time.
Destinova	*JCtheBuilder* The recent PVP changes certainly helped balance some outstanding issues, but there are also changes such as not allowing precasting spells with special moves anymore which drastically alter how PVP is done. Why did the developers feel the need to change such fundemental tactics?
Draconi	You're right, it really is a fundamental change, but it was also a fundamental problem in PvP and never should've been allowed. Damage stacking through combo'ing special moves with pre-casting was an untenable game dynamic - we understand the impact, but stand behind it for the sake of balance.
Destinova	*Mani* While the PvP publish has some nice changes, the devs seem to have forgotten a few important issues like trap boxes and FC4 chiv. Any news on those?
Jeremy_EAMythic	We didn't forget those at all - but the trapped boxes question, in particular, is actually a fairly complex one, and touching that has a pretty big impact. We wanted to get the changes we felt confident about out now, but, as I said before, we're definitely not done, and we'll revisit it in another round down the road.
Destinova	*Ktorr* Any info on what the Ophidian stuff will be useful for?
Draconi	Aha, I knew I couldn't avoid this one.
Draconi	Let me tell you, at the least, that it will be: 1) A turnin, 2) Run by the government, 3) In response to needing more information about their enemies
Destinova	*Magnus* Question: There are a lot of facets in Ultima Online, thats a lot of land. Is there any chance of getting posters of the maps? I love paper maps and would love to have some of Sosaria!
Jeremy_EAMythic	We've been talking about maps quite a bit lately - paper maps, cloth maps, in-game maps, you name it :) If that's something you'd like to see us offer for sale or as part of a box, let us know! I love me some maps, too - have a whole wall of them in my office.
Destinova	*Magnus* Question: It has been awhile since we have got any additions to the Ultima Online accessory shop, any chance of getting additions to it? Like a sweater or a hat anytime soon?
Jeremy_EAMythic	We'd love to hear what y'all would be interested in buying - send it in as feedback, and I'll pass it on to our merchandise team!
Destinova	*Kiminality* Are there plans for additional skill training quests, not only up to 50 skill, but additional ones to help guide training beyond that?
Draconi	The skill quests are all about helping new characters get to a confident skill level before they embark out into the world. We've all seen the potential, though, for what well crafted skill guide quests could do for players further down the road. For now, though, our main focus is still new players and their characters.
Destinova	*Magnus* Question: Has the Proficiency System development been dropped? It has been a long time since any information on it has been released.
Jeremy_EAMythic	The Proficiency System has definitely been dropped - while we're always looking for solutions for balance, that one proved... unpopular, to say the least.
Destinova	*athos_uo* It is not rational that you can doulbe-click bola and bring up a target cursor without being detected. You should be detected at the same time as you double-click bola as well as when you double-click a bandage. How about this problem?
Jeremy_EAMythic	I'll pass that along as feedback - I don't believe we're considering it a bug at the moment, necessarily, but it may be a design we need to examine
Destinova	*Slyvos* What is the progress on Stygian Abyss at this time? Unless you are unable to say much?
Jeremy_EAMythic	We are unable to say much :) Sorry, folks, I know we've been teasing you with it for a while now, but you'll have to wait a bit longer for more goodies.
Draconi	To be thanking you for your interest. To be believing much in Stygian Abyss.
Destinova	*docx* What's the catch with Spirit of Totem, why it cannot be repaired with a tailor repair deed? I do love the PvP changes that's been made so far, but when can we expect necro and fc4 chiv to go under microscope?
Jeremy_EAMythic	As for the first half, we'd have to look it up - I'll file that one for the Five on Friday. As for the second, I don't have a better answer than "later" - we want to see the effect of this round on actual, live PvP for a little while.
Destinova	*Foxster* Will any of the SA content be available in 2D, like items, skills, etc?
Draconi	Anything that can be taken physically out of the Abyss, be it monster, item, or Gargoyle, will at least have an equivalent to display in 2D so that it can still be interacted with. The full experience will, of course, be played out best in the KR client.
Draconi	Oh, and skills, yes. The Gargoyles have much to share with their Britannian counterparts
Draconi	The Abyss itself, though, will hold untold fortunes for those willing to travel within its depths...
Destinova	*DermottLS* The constant question every week on the KR forum... when's the next patch?
Jeremy_EAMythic	Current plan is, sometime next week. Looks like we may have a mini-patch to fix a nasty crash bug, then a bigger one with goodies, but it's all dependant on QA at the moment.
Destinova	*DermottLS* Can KR UI elements be made to be able to be resized individually or is it all tied together into the single scale?
Jeremy_EAMythic	At the moment, it's all a single scale (other than the chat menu and the main game window, of course.) I'll put "individually scalable elements" down on my UI guy's list, though!
GrimmOmen	Well folks I have to take my leave. Thanks to all of you for coming out tonight and as always thank for you incredible support of UO!
Jeremy_EAMythic	Oh, good, now we can gossip about him :)
Destinova	*Tasar* What team members will be attending the September Townhall
Jeremy_EAMythic	I'll be there, Draconi will be there, and Leurocian will be there - if that ain't trouble, I don't know what is :)
Destinova	That will wrap it up for tonight. I'd like to thank the developers for coming! The log for tonight's chat will be up shortly on http://uo.stratics.com.
Draconi	*waves*
Destinova	Also, please feel free to join #ultima-online for open chat.
Jeremy_EAMythic	Night, all!