House of Commons from 1998-10-22

House of Commons from 1998-10-22

DenDragon	Greetings and thank you for attending tonight's Open House.
DenDragon	Tonight's topic is: "T2A Features, Details, Etc.". Please phrase your questions accordingly.
DenDragon	Glamdring will be our moderator for this evening. In order to submit questions please /msg or /query Fallo, Ssendam, Cironian, or Rainman.
DenDragon	Please /msg different question-takers at different times, in order to balance the load and speed this process up. Do not msg anyone from OSI, myself or Glamdring--these questions will be ignored.
DenDragon	Remember that OSI may not have the opportunity to answer all of your questions. In addition, some questions may not be answered if the Dev Team feel that it is not appropriate or that it has been better answered through some other question.
DenDragon	In addition, please do not submit any questions that have already been answered during past conferences. We encourage you to read the logs of the previous Open Houses, which are available at http://uohoc.stratics.com.
DenDragon	Thanks for coming, everyone. We will now begin accepting questions.
Glamdring	*Helter* Hi, I am Helter Skelter, future librarian of Caemlyn, I would like to know if locking books will be possible some day ?
DesignerD	By that I assume you mean the ability to prevent others from editing books once you have finished writing in them. Yes, we'd like to do this someday.
Glamdring	*Avril* Exceptional plate was a good idea. How about exceptional bows for grandmaster bowyers?
DesignerD	I went looking in the code today to add a message for exceptional bows, because it was a top request. I found that there's no such thing. So I will have to add exceptional bows at some point. :) It may make it in for the "crowd-pleaser" update. We won't have the final list of stuff for that update until Monday evening though.
DesignerD	I'll see if we can't post that list once we have it :)
Glamdring	*deef* In the T2A chat you said new US Shards will be open before T2A is in our hands. What is the status of the new US Shards?
DesignerD	Actually, I have no idea. :P So I probably shouldn't have said that.
DesignerD	I don't know what the status of it is. I do know that Drachenfels just opened officially though.
Glamdring	*Aragorn_Tnk* are you ever going to put the animations back in for female chainmail?
DesignerD	I'll check on that. I need to see if they are actually on the T2A CD (we removed a bunch of unused anims to make room for new ones)
Glamdring	*Bainite* Will the bumpy groun in the new lands forever prevent house placement?
DesignerD	Nope! In fact, it
DesignerD	whoops :P
DesignerD	Nope! In fact it is possible to place houses on bumpy ground now. But placing houses in all the lost lands is not allowed by decree of Lord British, until the new ownership stuff goes in.
Glamdring	*Jatwhal* I hear alot about server wipes, will this happen?
DesignerD	The IGMs have asked me not to spoilt the suspense of the Followers of Armageddon plot by answering that. :)
DenDragon	Please do not message Glamdring or DD--these questions will be ignored
Glamdring	*Jandar^Sunstar* Will the gargoyle race have the ability to fly?
DesignerD	When races happen, you mean? Probably not.
Glamdring	*Ikit* When is the T2A going to be playable. Also I got letter in mail saying my pre-ordered copy of T2A is out of stock. Why out of stock?
DesignerD	T2A will be open to the public really soon. :) You should start a countdown. As far as the in-stock bit, believe it or not it's because it, well, went out of stock. :) But they restocked up and made more, so you should probably check on the status of your order.
Glamdring	*Alex13* Will players be able own any new items or houses in t2a...ie, will there be any new items one can put in his bank box?
DesignerD	There are no new items exclusive to T2A.
Glamdring	*Antioch* Will you be able to join/gain the Respect of the Ophidians or the other guys in thier War?
DesignerD	No. :) As soon as they see each other, they are going to drop everything and rush to attack each other. :) Anytime they don't see the enemy race, they'll basically stomp you instead.
Glamdring	*deVoca_LS* Will marking runes be possible in the new lands? If so, what will happen to people who recall/gate to them who don't have the 2nd age software installed?
DesignerD	You will not be able to recall between the old lands and the new. However, if you are in the new lands, you can recall within the new lands. So someone who gets a lost lands rune in the old lands won't be able to use it.
Glamdring	*Frank-Sinatra* a lot of mages would like the status of channeling
DesignerD	I had hoped to get it in with the new weapons, but it looks like it won't make it. That means it may well get postponed for a lengthy while, because the next update after that is going to be all housing ownership stuff. :(
Glamdring	*Larken* Will there be new house and boat templates for the t2a lands?Will there be an option to start in one of the new cities that t2a has?
DesignerD	No and no. Eventually we may get new houses that use the T2A architecture, but not yet. And no, can't start in T2A. It'd spank a newbie anyway. :)
Glamdring	*Shamino* Is anything planned for Halooween? Pumpkins around the castle and a scary mage tower of the horrors?
DesignerD	We have plans but don't plan to ruin the surprise :)
Glamdring	*Motion3* When will the second age be available in retail stores? (full version)
DesignerD	Not actually sure. :) You'd think I'd know, but I don't.
Glamdring	*Helios-Grattus* Is there going to be a special event the last day of the Beta, in the new lands for all the Beta testers?
DesignerD	Heh, everyone wants the surprises ruined. :)
Glamdring	*Thulag* wheer ib ull ub da heelie humies in new uzg ? Dere ib unlee dub dere me seen.( where's all the healers ? only two there... )
DesignerD	da heelie humies ur ull da playurs.
DesignerD	There won't be NPC healers outside of those. The players will have to be the wandering healers. That's one reason why player healers now have resurrect.
Glamdring	*RandTheLucky* A lot of us who ordered the t2a cd have gotten "out of stock" postcards in the mail. Are there enough?
DesignerD	There weren't, but now there are :) Again, double-check the status of your order with the EA Store, just in case, but I am told that they have manufactured more to meet the demand.
Glamdring	*Kaz* Any plans on making Bower's repair bow's and crossbows?
DesignerD	Ya know, I get asked that a lot. Have you ever tried to put a broken bow back together? :P I have. You can't, really.
Glamdring	*Bainite* As part of the housing patch, will there be any "refund" for destroying houses that you own? (Get rid of your house, get gold deposited automatically into your bank box...)
DesignerD	Quite possibly, yes.
Glamdring	*Plutos* Is there any chance at all diseases like Lycanthrope would be added to UO?
DesignerD	Also quite possibly :) We actually toyed with having vampires and lycanthropy in T2A.
DesignerD	It ended up not making the cut...
DesignerD	But someday, I still wanna do it :)
Glamdring	*Elemental_FoU* Using Inside UO I've seen animations of A player doing an "area effect" casting. Is it possible these will replace anims for things like Summon daemon or Meteor swarm?
DesignerD	Sure, it can happen at some point. I am not entirely sur why they aren't used right now.
Glamdring	*Joevis* I'm dead in UO, can you please get a GM to ress me?
DesignerD	Uh, no. :)
Glamdring	*Thrawn* the t2a spawns during the beta test were pretty heavy... can we count on the spawn rate being the same, or will it be toned down on the live servers?
DesignerD	The spawn rate will not change. We'll have to see how it keeps up with the increased player load though, since a lot more folks will be playing.
Glamdring	*Darlantan* what are the plans about pk's hanging near the entrances of t2a?
DesignerD	Well, that's why we supplied several ones within a justice region :)
Glamdring	*Bakura* Will there ever be an option to back up crutial files (such as macro.txt) when you uninstall or at a set interval. I have forgotten to back these up prior to uninstalling and reinstalling before and had to reprogram all my macros. It would be a nice feature to add to the game.
DesignerD	There can be such an addition eventually, I suppose. But it's a pretty low priority. After all, you don't really need to re-install very often. But everyone be sure to back up your macros before you install T2A! :)
Glamdring	*Soren* In reguard to the new stat patch, will it be possible to have very high skills in the areas you use consistently, say Magery, Swords, tactics, Track, Inscrip, Heal, etc etc... (Mainly asking - more "high" skills than previously allowed?
DesignerD	The stat cap will still apply, but we are looking very hard at the skill atrophy code to make it rock solid, so that recently used skills just don't atrophy.
Glamdring	*Ibn_Shaun* During the T2A chat, the abilities of player healers were mentioned a few times. Why does it take a Grandmaster player healer/anatomist an average of 2 minutes to resurrect and 25 seconds to cure someone when it only takes a GM mage 7 seconds and 1 second respectively? (With channeling, you can also do both much more frequently.) What balance issues exist from removing cure and resurrection delays entirely?
DesignerD	Mostly we'd just have to look at it. Of course, it doesn't cost a healer reagents and mana, which are the limiting factor for rate of resurrections for a mage. We don't want the scenario of a healer with a ton of cheapo bandages walking around instaly ressing everyone on a battlefield....
Glamdring	*Jandar^Sunstar* Will the races you stated have any special abilities (ex: elves with night vision always), aside from the stat increase/limit?
DesignerD	One thing to remember about the races is that they are still a long ways away--several months. ;) Everything we say about them is very tentative at this point. Sure looks like a lot of folks are looking forward to them though!
Glamdring	*Lucas* DD,what about the weather effects,and thus the influence on how you are dressed,that you proposed a while ago?
DesignerD	In any case--we don't know about special abilities right now.
DesignerD	We do still plan to do this eventually.
Glamdring	*Avril* Will things like clocks ever be able to be hung on walls, instead of having to be set on the floor?
DesignerD	Kinda tricky, actually. Hurm. Not sure how we'd go about doing that interface-wise.
Glamdring	*Tomrok* With the new architechture of the t2a {release} .. ive heard there will be new kinds of houses specifically for it, True?
DesignerD	No new house types at first when T2A opens, no.
<RVogel>	We are looking at weather effects but it is low on our list of things to do and yes, weather will have an effect on your armor and euipment. You will also need to wear special clothing like furs in the cold areas
Glamdring	*Uziel* I believe you stated that the new art is Dupre. How'd he get in the new lands and since some won't have t2a, does that mean he can't come back?
<RVogel>	I am playing Dupre in the game. Yes, I am limited to the new fontier right now. If everyone upgrades, that won't be a problem anymore ;).
Glamdring	*Stigwood* Along with the T2A, will the world economy be put back into place? In the early days of UO this seemed to be the case with Dragons attacking towns because we killed their food and the such, s of late it's just simple spawns that determine how many reagents a vendor has or what kind of monsters roam the forest. Is it possible, let's say, to have players killing sheep upset the trolls diet so therefor the trolls raid a town.
DesignerD	Yes, we do plan to put that back in. Not sure when, though, because we'd kinda like to redesign it to make it more visible to players, so that you can tell why prices are high or low, and tell why there are no deer around, etc.
Glamdring	*[PoDW]Solar_Flare* Why has it been snowing at Covetous for almost a year now?
DesignerD	Because in the upper atmosphere, water droplets are precipitating out of suspension as the water forms larger droplets when cold and warm air masses collide. Given the temperateure, they freeze into small ice crystals in symmetric patterns.
DesignerD	These then fall tot he ground because of their weight, forming snow.
DesignerD	:)
Glamdring	*sane* Resist is currently one of the hardest skills to gain , making it fairly under-powered in some peoples opinions, will there be any change to resist in the future?
DesignerD	On TC, you'll find very very different feeling skill advancement. In fact, they are all a little TOO fast right now, IMHO, and will probably slow down some as we adjust the curve. But you'll find that resist is no longer that way, I think.
Glamdring	*JJM* What type of ratio can we expect between Britannia/New World quests? I would hate to see all in game questing going to the new land.
DesignerD	That's question for the IGMs, but I am sure they will be careful to keep it balanced out
Glamdring	*MinionX* Why are there no leather caps in UO?
DesignerD	Because someone forgot to make them available, I think. :) That came up today in the many "what can we put in the crowd-pleaser" threads on the boards. So I am investigating that and also surcoats.
Glamdring	*Mordor* Can clothes be made to were if they are cut with scissors they turn into bandages?
DesignerD	They can be, sure. If we decide to... I guess you want them to?
Glamdring	*Ikit* Will there ever be an option to lower skills to 0.0 I don't use animal taming yet it is at about 12.3
DesignerD	Nope, no option to lower skills. Probably an option SOME day to cap how high you want a skill to rise, though. But that's who-knows-when. But with the new advancement code on TC, we will make sure that unused skills are the first to atrophy.
DesignerD	Also, don't forget that displayed skill counts some stats too, so you can have a value in a skill you have never used.
Glamdring	*Soren* Will it EVER be possible to leave UO and come back in to have my packs open where i left them, map, skills, etc etc?
DesignerD	That works with all the windows except the ones which are "dynamic"--meaning, the radar, which has to grab the data for where you are; the chat window in T2A, since you have to 'log in"; and your backpack, since it has to grab th contents of it to display.
DesignerD	We might be able to get it working someday...
Glamdring	*Bishop_Ebonhand* regarding magic items with magic reflect ability, no matter how many charges the item posesses, the moment you equip it, it loses all charges and becomes useless, never reflecting a single spell... is this on the agenda to be repaired?
DesignerD	This is because all the "wear item for a passive effect" magic items run through charges really really fast. That's also on the list for the crowd-pleaser though I am not sure if it'll make it. basically, we'd either give them tons more charges, or make them expend them more slowly.
DesignerD	I'll check on that
Glamdring	*Helbunny* Will Paralyze ever be fixed. I am a GM resist and I get the message you feel yourself resisting magical energy...Yet I am still frozen.
DesignerD	Will check on that...
Glamdring	*Darlantan* just to look forward to, are there going to be many easter eggs in t2a? :)
<RVogel>	We will have some easter eggs in t2A..you will just have to find them ;)
DesignerD	There's not as many as are in the original UO though :)
Glamdring	*SionMaguson* About that "If everyone upgrades" statement. Would it be possible if that happens to allow the new animals into the old lands, too?
DesignerD	If absolutely everyone did, then yeah, it it theoretically possible. Why, you gonna go door to door for us and sell it to everyone? :)
Glamdring	*Kordelli* My question is if there is any way that Karma and Fame can be distributed among all parties attacking it, instead of the lone KewL Dewd Ebolter that robs the fame.
DesignerD	Yes indeed, that is a possibility. I've actually had that on other games I have worked on. It works pretty well.
Glamdring	*yodel* Are there any plans for any methods of growing/farming reagents?
DesignerD	plans, yeah. That's about all they are at the moment, though. We DO plan to have crops and reganets growing like the cotton in the lost lands for sure.
<RVogel>	Yes, we are looking at farming and growing reagents.
Glamdring	*[PoDW]Reaper* Will there be a warning if houses are wiped?
DesignerD	Absolutely. All aspects of home ownership will be very openly discussed with players.
DesignerD	This is not to say a wipe is planned, btw--we do not yet have the specifics of our plan of action. We hope to present our plan to players for comment soon.
Glamdring	*Shadow* Will we be able to recall from the new lands to the old ones and will there be justice regions as one enters the new lands?
<RVogel>	You will not be able to mark and recall from the old lands to the new lands..
DesignerD	Several entrances do have justice regions, Heck, several of them are in town.
<RVogel>	We will have justice regions around the entrances to the new lands
Glamdring	*Darlantan* are there any news on the acceptance on some 3rd party programs? a website to list what has been accepted?
DesignerD	Progress on the 3rd party agreement is really good, actually. If you've visited Tugsoft's page, you may have noticed that he's already submitting UOAssist. There will be a website once there are programs to list
Glamdring	*Kyra* Do you forsee NPC tailors being done away with, so that PC tailors can be the only ones supplying UO with goods?
DesignerD	Not totally done away with, no. We DO foresee greatly reducing the role of ALL NPC shopkeepers by allowing them only to sell newbie goods. We want to do this to help the player-player economy thrive.
Glamdring	*Rama* anyway to get to the lowest tier of karma and how about evil npc paladins and fighters in dungeons?
DesignerD	My understanding is that right now, there is no way to get to the lowest tier of karma. We'll fix that at some point. Evil fighters and paladins was actually on the crowd-pleaser list :) Dunn oif it will make it in though.
DesignerD	On Test Center there is a new advancement system in testing. It fixes ALL the problems with inability to advance past a certain point. It doesn't have quite the right advancement rates in there yet though, and atrophy is not quit correct either. But it will be soon, and it will go in with the crowd-pleaser update
Glamdring	*kaganos* if i tame a nightmare in the new worlds will i beable to bring it back to the old?
DesignerD	I don't think so. :( It's a T2A creature (though it technically could exist in UO as well) and is limited to the lost lands
Glamdring	*Arkenor* Drachenfels is up, but when is Europa scheduled to go up? The official statement sounds like no other euro servers will go up til drachenfels is full.
DesignerD	That's right, but given the demand, we don't expect that to be long. :) So all you Euro players, go play Drachenfels, and that will result in Europa soon. :)
DesignerD	Oh--also, I have seen people asking if the fact that Drachenfels has a German name means that it is for German speakers only. The answer is no. If it were, what langauge would "Europa" be, Latin? :)
Glamdring	*Larken* Are there plans to make it so like a forest ostrich could not survive in the snow, because it's not its eviroment??
DesignerD	If we add climates, then yeah, we'd do stuff like that.
Glamdring	We'll be taking just a couple more questions
Glamdring	*Cironian* How about adding more gump-only items like jewelry, tattoos or stuff like that? You could even have players paint some of them using InsideUO output as "frame" for the picture.
DesignerD	That's a possibility, sure.There's a bunch of jewelry in there already, but i don't see it used all that much...
Glamdring	*Joshua* Do you have an Update List of what will be in the "crowd-pleaser" Upate? The current list on Coming Soon seems very minimal compared to what it sounds like may go in
DesignerD	We have a list we built out of stuff we reda on the boards today in response to my question, plus other stuff we've had in mind for it. But we have to go through it and determine what can actually make it in. We probably won't have a final list until Monday.
DesignerD	I can tell you that most likely tomorrow, this item will be added to Coming Soon: "When a guard kills a thief in town, he will automatically return goods stolen within the last two minutes to the rightful owner, if the owner is still around." In other words, if you are stolen from in town and a gard kills the thief, you get your stuff back automatically.
DesignerD	And the reason I know that will be in is that I am halfway through coding it as we speak :)
DenDragon	All right, that last question marks the end of the conference, everyone
DenDragon	thanks for attending!
DenDragon	the log will be posted in a matter of minutes
DesignerD	OK, we're gonna wrap up the chat here for tonight... but I thought I'd mention that I recently did a RealAudio chat with Borric over at http://www.stratics.com/cause
DesignerD	So if you want to hear more, you may want to check that one out. it's about an hourlong interview...
<Borric>	heh beat me to it DD... :)
<RVogel>	We have a lot of plans for UO in the next few months..keep checking the update center for more information..