UO:2013-03-15: Ask & Answer No. 17

Ask & Answer No. 17

In this week’s Ask and Answer we have some very informative answers from the developers including a holiday appropriate question about bunnies. Enjoy!

UOForums: Easter is coming. So…
UOForums: Would you consider adding Vorpal Bunnies to the loot system that powers Shame/Covetous/Wrong? Perhaps equivalent to a mid-level monster to recognize how agonizingly slow it is to grow green thorns?
UOForums: Would you consider adding a (very) rare Vorpal Bunny statue drop?
UOForums: Would you consider adding Vorpal Bunnies to the list of sources for the upcoming release of armor system-related ingredients?
UOForums: Would you consider adding various imbuing ingredients to the list of Bunny loot items? (Magister_Returns)

Mesanna: I get the idea you really like Vorpal bunnies. You have to understand Vorpal bunnies are easy to farm in closed in areas so we have to be careful how much we put on them. And with everything for gardening we have put in the game you can produce approx 73 thorns in 2 weeks. As far as the statue, I don’t have an issue with putting in a Vorpal Bunny Statue or maybe a way to catch them during one easter and taming them, who knows =)

My personal bent towards UO skills is that if you put the effort and skill points towards a skill, you should be rewarded with a tangible in-game reward. As it stands, if you train resist spells you get a modest bump to your resists if you are not wearing any armor. Is there any chance the skill could be made more appealing if you offer this bonus even if you were wearing armor? The rewards could be tweaked to better balance the system but I think skill points are very limited (720 max) and should be accorded the proper weight based upon that fact.
My second resist magic question is in regards to pets. I know you guys have mentioned a pet overhaul but to that end, is there any way pets could enjoy the same resist benefits that players get with regards to their resist magic score. I actually have pet tamers for every single tameable out there and even though most of the weaker pets can’t handle the higher end bosses in the game, it is still quite enjoyable watching a pack of mongbats take down an ogre lord. I think one of the first things you should look at with weaker pets is to boost resists based on their magic resistance score. The players are putting the effort into training this skill, so reward them with better odds of survivability. (Sablestorm)

Mesanna: I do not have an answer for this question but I can tell you that this question has caused a major discussion among the team. When we settle on an agreement we will let you know…check back with us in the future….*laughs*

Puzzle Timer Adjustment plea…
I really think it’s a far better system for the plants, they are on a 23 hour timer. When the puzzle was new, people were cheating so horribly… they had to do something. Making it 24 hours, I think is just too much.
Say you do your puzzle at 8:30am every morning, as you eat your breakfast, before leaving to take care of business for the day. No matter how strict you keep it, you still loose ground every day. If you are late, over sleep, morning tummy issues, breakfast takes a little longer then normal, any tiny delay easily will make the task too inconvenient due to the 24 hour timer. You have to skip a day, start over again to put the task on your time. Even going 10 days will cause a delay waiting to get the token without any extra delay.
The plants, for all the work they offer when doing them by hand and not cheating with a house full of plant beds, you can keep to your time and not risk loosing the lot to illness.
Must it be 24 hours? Wouldn’t the same 23 hour limit be better and more friendlier for our game? Please? I honestly think it’s funny you are tired one hour to the next, forget 1 day to the next and can’t work the puzzle. It’s not like the lamp posts. Just thinking about that one makes me tired. (EvilPixieWork)
UO Stratics: Would it be possible to change quests on a 24 hr timer to reset at server up (or a set time daily) instead? This would make it so much easier to do daily quests like tier 3 Zosilem or experimental room puzzle quests without keeping notes when your char did them last. (Gheed)

Mesanna: We agree and a bug will be put into the system for a future publish fix.

UO Japan: Repairing armor pieces one by one is not so fun for me. How about adding “repair service contract books”? Like bulk order books, you can stock various repair service contracts in the book. And if you click “repair all equipments” command of the book in appropriate shop in town, all your appropriate equipments are repaired at once. (Arata)

Mesanna: This is actually an interesting idea.

I think the spyglass is almost meaningless item. It would be nice if I can find my lost pet by double clicking the spyglass. (Feedback)

Mesanna: Lost pets are an issue not sure the spyglass is the solution, its much deeper than this. I understand what your talking about but we do not track pets.

Recently new visual effects for leech effect were introduced to the game. Because of the effect, it’s hard to see how much I damaged the target. Could you adjust the effect to more smaller, simpler one? (Feedback)

Kyronix: I just had a look at this in both clients. I can see the little damage numbers above the mob ok, are you possibly talking about the mini health bar at the bottom in the EC? If that’s the case I’m not sure there is much we can do based on the fact that the effects generally originate from the base of the mob in the EC.

UO Stratics: Will the ancient liches ever be returned to Khaldun Dungeon? They were removed for a event and were supposed to be returned. They are unlike any other “ancient lich” in game. They even have their own back story.
From UO Guide: In ancient times, Kaltivel, Anshu, Maliel, Baratoz, and Almonjin, were formerly the five most dreadful necromancers in the cabal who worshipped in Khaldun. They are now ressurected as fearsomely powerful liches in order to defend their underground temple from archaelogists and other adventurers who seek to claim its riches. (Jirel of Joiry)

Mesanna: I would love to return them and fix the shadow elementals, right now they are just crazy strong after a buff that a Dev game them for a past event.

When Samurai Empire 1st came out player could recall out of the Yamotsu mines. Well at least at the back where the fire beetles spawn. After sometime that was change and you can no longer recall out of the mine period.
My question is 2 part: Why was change to a no recall area and could it ever go back to being a recall out only area like the Dojo? Thank you (Luc of Legends)

Kyronix: We can adjust this in our upcoming publish so you can recall out of the mines.

Is there any chance we could get a shrine or healer placed permanantly in the Covetous mountain range? It is extrememly frustrating to have to run thru three levels of Cov after dying to overpowered lich casts. (Mentiras)

Mesanna: Putting one outside near the mountains is not unreasonable.

The Dev Team has talked about a vendor search in game, is that still in the works and when can we expect to see it in game?

Mesanna: I hope to have the vendor search in game by October.