House of Commons from 2006-01-26

House of Commons from 2006-01-26

Sprite	Welcome to another great Stratics house of commons with the developers of Ultima Online! Tonight's topic will be centered on PvP, so please send in questions pertaining only to this topic.
Sprite	Please send those questions to [QT]Cale or [QT]Ishu - to do so type /msg [QT]NICKNAME My question here. Please only send questions to our QT's as those sent to myself or the developers will not make it into the lineup.
Sprite	The full logs will be posted on http://uo.stratics.com after the chat. We'll begin with a quick intro from our guests...now would be a good time to send in those questions!
MrTact	Hello, I'm MrTact. I am the lead designer of UO Live. You will recognize me as the man standing in the middle of the room with the big red target on his back.
Niobe	Hello, I'm Niobe. I'm the lead designer of UO not live. Hi everyone
purpleturtle	Hi, I'm purpleturtle. I am a engineerer for UO Live. I'm the one with 2 turtles. =)
Binky_EA	Binky here, im the community manager. Thanks for joining us.
wilkinator	Hello everyone, I'm wilki! UO Community Guy. I don't have any turtles though, sorry.
Serado_EA	Hey guys Serado from QA here. Glad to see everyone :)
MostlyHarmless_EA	Hey, I am MostlyHarmless, an engineer working on UO Live
Sprite	*Sinteres* I like to pvp in style. That being said, I was wondering if there was any plans to allow arrow dye tubs to be put in game
MrTact	Not atm.
MrTact	The arrow art in the game is not hueable, so they would look terrible.
MrTact	However, that's kind of a cool idea.
Sprite	*LollerPancakes* Can they give us any ideas on what they are planning for the future of PvP?
MrTact	If by "they" you mean "MrTact", then yes.
MrTact	We put together a "strike team" of people from dev, QA, customer service and so forth.
Draconi	>>> *smashes through the cubicle wall* Hi, *pants* I'm the late, er, I'm late, uh, Draconi. UO Designer! Hi! Back to PvP... *runs off*
MrTact	For the last couple of weeks we have been trying to identify what the big overarching problems are with PvP.
MrTact	We came up with 6 big-ticket items.
MrTact	1. Fights are too short.
MrTact	2. Templates are not balanced against one another.
MrTact	3. Too item-dependent.
MrTact	4. We (the developers) don't have good tools for analysis/rebalancing.
MrTact	5. 3rd party apps are annoying.
MrTact	6. Not enough good reasons to PvP.
MrTact	With pub 40 we are mostly going to try and address 1 and 2, with an eye to 3 and 4.
MrTact	The 3rd party thing is important to us, but is probably outside the scope of a "pvp revamp". However, we are (slowly but surely) starting to get some traction on that issue.
MrTact	And we mostly feel like 6 boils down to "fix factions", which, if we allocate time to do it, will be a few publishes down the road.
Sprite	*BelgarathPOW* what are the current ideas being worked (if any) for a fix to the archery problem?
MrTact	Well, I want to make archery competitive, not nerf it into the ground.
MrTact	Everyone and their brother (er, who isn't an archer that is) wants 3 ticks of stop time for archery weapons.
MrTact	We'll probably give that a shot & test it out.
MrTact	I am also considering doing something a little more interesting . . . for instance, letting them only stop for 1 tick, but have a big hit chance penalty, stop for 2 ticks for a small penalty, 3 ticks for no penalty and 4 for a small *bonus*.
MrTact	I'm definitely interesting in finding something that balances archers' ability to deliver damage from range while making them more fun to play.
Sprite	*Minotaur2k* What are some of your general plans for Fel?
MrTact	That falls into the area of #6 above, so we're probably not going to do anything specifically to Fel in the near term.
MrTact	The changes in the upcoming publish will be more in the area of bug fixes, balance tweaks, and systemic changes.
Sprite	*Tygress* Since there have been issues with guardwhacking people my using mirror images for so Long now, what is the harm in just removing that ability from game? I have yet to see it used for any other reason than to guardwhack someone.
Sprite	*Sergulzan_SP* Can we get official word on whether or not the guard exploit causing grief to so many on Siege is legal or bannable?
MrTact	I believe the issue you are referring to is fixed in pub 39. Please let me know when it hits test.
Sprite	*Minotaur2k* Have you considered getting rid of insurance in Fel or limiting it to bring back less item based PvP? What kind of issues would this bring up?
MrTact	Yes we have.
MrTact	In the strike team meetings we talked about both of those things in conjunction with goal #3.
MrTact	We probably won't do anything with it in pub 40, but as Binky recently posted, we expect PvP balancing to take more than one publish.
Sprite	*Diomedes* any plans to change the mods on uber bows, or at least allow other weapons to be enhanced to the same level?
MrTact	Yes, there are some tweaks to bow damage in pub 39, and it's conceivable that all weapons could have their damage changed in pub 40.
Sprite	*DismountGimpII* May I just ask....Why is it that whenever the Dismount Gimps start to destroy everybody on UO with various "tricks" like Wolf Form heal, Guardwhacking, 200dmg with No-Dachi's etc, those "tricks" or "skills" get nerfed. Is it a personal attack on the Dismount Gimps due to them being far too powerful? I look forward to your reply.
MrTact	Yes, we hate you. You personally. In fact . . .
	* MrTact nerfs IRC *
MrTact	:-)
MrTact	No, it's a symptom of the historical approach to fixing UO.
MrTact	What I call the "warped board" problem.
MrTact	A nail pops up and you hammer it down, but it makes the other end of the board pop up.
MrTact	And around and around we go.
MrTact	You guys are just the most creative at finding the nails that poke out :-)
MrTact	Early adopters, as it were.
MrTact	My goal for this next series of publishes is to try and break that cycle and get us onto a more reasonable track for balancing the game.
Sprite	*Fusion* Any New Information Pertaining To Thieves Being A Viable Playstyle Again?
MrTact	We really want to.
MrTact	We have talked about it extensively internally.
MrTact	My worry is that we're committing to some pretty hefty changes in the immediate future anyway, and I don't want to overcommit and then not deliver.
MrTact	Of course, if we do change insurance in Fel down the road, that will help a little.
MrTact	Oh, and I have some thoughts about how to make it feasible to PvP in crafted armor again. Will that help?
Sprite	*BelgarathPOW* Can parry be made so dex does not affect it anymore? i know it was an issue for a while back a while, but IF archers will continue to dominate, parry is a must
MrTact	I am probably going to want to reevaluate how parry works a bit, so yes.
MrTact	I hate "magic numbers" -- they make it very difficult to learn how to play the game, particularly if they aren't documented well.
MrTact	Also, I'm not averse to roach mages, as long as there's a way to counter them and it actually costs something.
MrTact	So that should give you an idea of my goals there.
Sprite	*Minotaur2k* How much of a role do you think PvP should play in all of UO? Do you think it should be neccesary to PvP to obtain certain things?
MrTact	We're not planning to move power scrolls to Tram at this time :-)
MrTact	Only because it makes for a nice little "golden triangle" in the marketplace.
MrTact	To take your question from a larger perspective, I think you should be able to get into PvP if you want without jumping through a lot of hoops, and you should be able to exert some degree of control over your level of commitment.
MrTact	Which all falls into the #6 issue I mentioned above, so that's a philosophical discussion for another day.
Sprite	*Vorp* I would like to talk about a cap on mana regeneration and how it takes the place of the meditation skill as it is.
MrTact	That's a possibility.
MrTact	Another approach we're considering is using some form of diminishing returns.
MrTact	Under that scenario, we could make med more effective.
MrTact	I would prefer that items have no more impact on a particular area of the game than you can get through skill, and preferably less.
MrTact	Which obviously isn't the case for some attributes at the moment.
Sprite	*BelgarathPOW* what is going to be done about the massive amounts of extremely high powered bows out and the massivly underpowered melee weapons?
MrTact	*ALL* weapons are overpowered atm, IMHO.
MrTact	No, scratch that.
MrTact	The way that damage modifiers affect your base damage puts high-end damage quantities way outside the realm of reason.
MrTact	I will be looking at the damage of ALL weapons and abilities as part of pub 40.
Sprite	*Artemus_Jarlaxle* Will the faction system ever have some type of reward system put in it to give players incentive to join them in force?
MrTact	Well, it would be good if there was SOME good reason to participate.
MrTact	A reward system is an interesting idea.
MrTact	We will certainly consider that if we get to the point of a factions revamp.
Sprite	*LS* HELLO,My question is 2 part.1)When will 120 resist count for more then what it is now?Being cursed nonstop,with no chance to resist,and necro,and spellweaving spellsetc..2)bloodoath,sho uld be caped damage for pvm and pvp.People wear -25 phy resist 45 reflect phy suite,and when you hit them you get hit for up to 80 points of damage.So in affect you die in 3 secs.It should be caped at 30 max dam
Sprite	age.
MrTact	1) Pub 40.
MrTact	2) One of the things I'm considering doing with Resist is changing many magical effects that do direct damage (e.g. Blood Oath, Pain Spike) to do a new "magic" damage type.
MrTact	Resist skill would give you damage resistance against these effects . . . so you can choose to optimize your template to oppose those types of attacks.
MrTact	(Oh yeah, it probably goes without saying but I am interested in seeing feedback on that last comment, so please feel free to jump onto U. Hall and make your thoughts known.)
Sprite	*JCtheBuilder* Are there any plans to try and make Felucca peerless spawns more PVP friendly? There are several factors currently which make PVP pretty much impossible (Exit into guard zone, insure/bank items, teleport from your house, etc.)
MrTact	We have discussed reducing or removing some of the guard zones.
MrTact	And as I mentioned, we may look at insurance.
MrTact	I don't think we were specifically talking about issues with peerless spawns though. I'll add that to the list of things to be aware of.
Sprite	*Dolgorath[ATL]* Has there been any discussion among the devs about the HCI on Shields issue? Are there any plans to bring it back or remove it from existing, non-artifact shields? This causes a significant pvp inbalance between people who have the extra HCI and people who don't.
MrTact	I wouldn't say we've discussed it, though we are aware of it.
MrTact	Right now I think the way HCI and Hit Lower XXX are implemented is a little overpowering. That's something I was ruminating about this morning, in fact.
MrTact	So A) That imbalance should be mitigated in the rebalance
MrTact	and B) Unless someone gives me a good reason why that property was removed from shields, I see no reason not to put it back.
MrTact	So, there you go . . . I have foolishly committed myself.
Sprite	AFKish* Is perfection being removed from PvP as is rumored? I heard that it already was, or was in planning.
MrTact	That is not the plan right now.
MrTact	There are a number of ways to hit the 300% special move damage cap, that just happens to be the easiest way.
MrTact	But if we do diminishing returns in pub 40, it may no longer be so much of an issue.
MrTact	We'll see -- I'm not averse to it, but I'd rather try and make it work in a non-totally-pwning-everybody kind of way.
Sprite	*Tank* When under the effects of a bless or pots when you use the chiv remove curse spell your resists go back to where they should be but it doesn't put you STR, DEX, or INT back you have to wait for the pots or the bless to wear off. This started when the DEX cap was put into effect. Was that intended or is this just a bug that needs to be fixed?
MrTact	Sounds like a bug.
MrTact	Serado!
Sprite	*Sinteres* I've always felt PvP in a Fantasy-setting MMOG involves either two things, long battles of skill and timing due to large hit points and low damage outputs, or short battles of timing over skill based on high damage output and HPs not mattering so much, which direction do you want to go with PvP if any of those?
MrTact	Well I think it's clearly too short now.
MrTact	You don't even have to be all that maxed out to 2-hit someone.
MrTact	Plus the effect of high stamina on swing speed is just ridiculous.
MrTact	So.
MrTact	Compared with games like WoW or EQ2, where actions take several seconds, I think UO should be faster paced than that.
MrTact	However, not quite as fast as it is presently.
MrTact	And the average damage to average health ratio should be somewhere around 6-10x.
MrTact	IMHO.
MrTact	Er, stop.
MrTact	Strike that.
MrTact	Reverse it.
MrTact	So if it takes 6-10 hits to kill someone and we go from ~1 second/hit to ~1.5 seconds per hit, that means it takes you 9-15 seconds to beat someone down under normal circumstances.
MrTact	With heals, that means 1:1 duels should last on the order of 20-30 seconds for reasonably skilled combatants, while experienced PvPers (who know all the counter-moves) should probably be able to draw the fight out longer.
Sprite	*Lex* Just an idea Maybe adding some type of way to fight better on boats Maybe make cannons or cannoniering as a skill and put a dungon in the water to give some thing to have a boat battle over.
MrTact	We have wanted to do such an expansion several times . . . never seemed to make it work, unfortunately.
MrTact	I did see at least one bug we're targeting to fix that concerns fighting on boats . . .
Sprite	*Nixon-* Hay guys, I think its great your focusing on PvP Changes, I wondered if there was ever the possibility of resists on skirts, doublets and so forth, similar to that of the vet robes, say 1% rather than 3% to give the robes some value still, just so we can make up those extra resist points while still looking cool! ;)
MrTact	Interesting idea, I would say that's a possibility.
Sprite	*SahraSwift* A well timed poison (in addition to other things) can make an entire bandage cycle pretty much worthless. Are there plans to lessen the effects of those tactics?
MrTact	I wouldn't say planning to lessen it out of hand, but I intend to balance poison against other methods of doing damage.
Sprite	*DJSakkarah* A number of players are excellent at coming with the most insane templates for massive damage. Wouldn't it benefit the Devs to work with such players to prevent the kinds of imbalances we have seen in recent past such as AI, Critical and WoD?
MrTact	Yes, in fact we have in recent memory solicited such combos from the community.
MrTact	They gave us a bunch of them, some of which are now broken.
MrTact	However, if I do go ahead with some kind of diminishing returns solution, I think that may help us in the long run, because the more you pile on the less each thing you add to the pile will give you.
MrTact	It remains to be seen whether that will work though -- expect to see that on test center LONG before we think about shipping it.
Sprite	*Katharine* Spirit Speak as healing during pvp... Is there any way to change Spirit Speak for those of us who dont have any other healing, change it from heal amount based on fame/karma to skill?
MrTact	Going to look at ALL forms of healing for pub 40. I will keep that in mind.
MrTact	In general, I find the panoply of different mechanics for the same thing in our game bewildering.
MrTact	I am leaning toward reengineering a lot of things to work with simpler, more consistent mechanics.
MrTact	(And if you're wondering what the heck I'm talking about, go look at the description of Strangle in the playguide.)
MrTact	So yeah, a distinct possibility.
Sprite	*Dor* Are there any plans to reconfigure Stealth and Tracking to their former usefulness?
MrTact	Yes.
MrTact	It needs to be useful but not overwhelming, IMHO.
MrTact	One thing I'm thinking about is changing it so that instead of rolling a contested check (Detect vs Stealth) to reveal you every step, having an uncontested check to see if you make a noise.
MrTact	And only if you make a noise is there a chance someone around you can detect you.
MrTact	Something like that.
Sprite	*Grifty* Regarding 3. Item dependence, is there a chance we'll see something akin to naked mages again?
MrTact	On behalf of the Committee for Standards and Decency, hell no.
	* wilkinator covers his eyes *
MrTact	Uh, wait a minute.
MrTact	That MAY be more viable in the future. It depends on whether I have the time to make defensive spells more useful.
MrTact	I will say, I am aiming to balance combat so it's feasible to play the game with only 35-40% resists.
MrTact	So if you want to optimize your character to be a tank, you can.
Sprite	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
Sprite	Thank you all for joining us! You can join #Ultima-Online to chat more about the game.
Binky_EA	Thanks everyone for coming out and thank you Mr. Tact for answering every question!
MrTact	Thanks folks, I'll be here all week.
purpleturtle	thanks everyone
wilkinator	And that concludes the MrTact show for this evening!
Draconi	Byeeeee
wilkinator	Remember, an hour of UO a day keeps the doctor away!
wilkinator	Hasta la vista, Sosaria!
Niobe	bye!