UO:2013-02-11: Ask & Answer No. 15
Ask & Answer No. 15
We have another Ask and Answer for you and this one is full of great ideas that will help us to make Ultima Online even better. So go to your favorite fan site and submit those questions and ideas. We may even feature yours next week!
Ultima Online Bibliothek: Why is such a huge amount karma granted when choosing the “nice” option to fight Exodus? Participating two or three times in the fight easily capped my karma. Zero to 20k took years, 20k to 32k was done in minutes. That really cheapens the continuous dedication of being “kind”. (Pcuvush)
Kyronix: I think the ship on karma/fame sailed when you were able to get double gains from battling creatures in Fel. The intent with the exodus encounter was to give a quick and dirty way to swing your karma one way or the other since all we’re really talking about is a cosmetic title anyway. One thing I would love to tackle is the idea of making fame and karma more of a personal choice with real consequences more than just a cosmetic title. Am I saying this is on the horizon? No, but it would be something nice to put some work into if we ever get the chance.
Using the Classic Client it often happens that the current target is changed, because another enemy is closer than the one that was attacked before. This may happen due to a monster fleeing or an already injured monster being not fast enough to close up. The “New Targeting System” is not disabled. Such behaviour makes it difficult to apply special moves in a controlled way or honoring opponents before hurting them. (Pcuvush)
Bleak: We will look to fix this issue in the future. Providing more details on reproducing this issue will help to resolve it more quickly.
UO Forums: I was curious about certain items becoming stackable:
small pieces of blackrock
messes of small fish
And why certain potions in bottle give the message “you do not know what this is” and will not combine the bottles with kegs of the same type. (Kahlan)
Kyronix: When time allows we can make additional items stackable, messes of small fish and blackrock being just a few on a long list.
Has it ever been discussed to offer a way to purchase veteran account status for newer accounts? If so, is it something being considered and to what extent? Spending say $100 to make a new account 5 years old might be worth while to some individuals. Or, say, $500 for 10 years. Just spit-balling prices but you get the point. (Quintus Batiatus)
Mesanna: We have discussed this several times due to the fact we want all players to be equal but we also want to honor our Vets, the people that have stayed with us for so long. So yes we are still kicking this subject around.
Would it be possible to somehow have a character switching feature? Possibly one that is grayed out or unavailable unless you are in your house and hadnt been in a fight in the allotted time. A Switch Characters drop down menu in essence, would be very nice! (Quintus Batiatus)
Phoenix: We have researched a feature such as this in the past. While we all agree it is a great idea, we don’t have time for it on our schedule in the near future.
DEVS: Some questions regarding Davy’s Locker vet reward
Hello all –
I’ve noticed a few things about my shiny new 8th year vet reward that I’m hoping the dev team will address:
1. Why is there no option to sort the maps? Either something like the BOD book filter, or (even better) a feature that would allow us to sort ascending/descending for each column, exactly like you’d see in an excel spreadsheet
2. Are you aware of the error with map coordinate display? Often, the East portion of map coordinates is displayed incorrectly by the reward as West
3. Why did you dumb down the coordinates displayed for decoded treasure maps? Any chance you could have them display the entire DDMM format?
4. Can you add the ability to drop maps onto the table. Don’t remove the ‘add maps’ button, please, but it would be nice if the table worked the same way as BOD books, for example. Fairly minor, but I always find myself dropping maps on it!
5. Is it possible to have the map display the pin location without removing it from the table, or is that too problematic?
Thanks! (Magister_Returns)
Phoenix: We do agree that the usability and interface for the Locker can be better. We have it added to our list to address in the future.
UO Stratics: Will there be any plans to extend trophies to all types of “Big Fish”? I got a Big Fish Yellowtail Barracuda, now i have been fishing for years but this is my first big fish i have ever gotten. I was very disapointed that i could not mount this fish for display above my home of the hearth fire. (cdavbar)
Kyronix: Right now there is only one type of art for the big fish trophy, so if it’s a case of just wanting to be able to name the same art based on your catch, that is a much easier thing to do then make trophy art for all the different fish types.
Mesanna: I will add this to the massive list of art we want =)
Q: Is there any chance we’ll see the list of herdable creatures expanded beyond merely tameable types? Some observations:
– Firesteeds cannot be herded, although you can try, even at GM Herding. Are they meant to be herdable or not?- Of followers, only the tamed variety can be herded. Summons and reanimates would be great additions to the list of herdables, allowing a shepherd to have greater control over their own creatures. A good investment of skill points. Make it a GM bonus ability, perhaps.- Most monsters would be another great addition to herding. I can herd a greater dragon, but not something far weaker such as a daemon, elemental or the like. Peerless and such would be off-limits, but there really are a lot of in-between creatures that could make the profession of Shepherd much more flexible.
Can we get some more Herding enabled in the Abyss? There is next to nothing that can be herded, an enormous oversight as just about everyone else got thrown a bone with the expansion. Also, I don’t care if they can be tamed or not. Animals that run in groups should be herdable. And yes, I’m serious.(Fink)
Could we do something with herding? I mean, ya it’s great for Bo Peep RP’s but in the real game of killing monsters and players, it has no benefit… Here’s a thought, make it viable for tamers:For every X points of Herding you have, your pack instinct pets (I.e. your “herd”) get a +Y% boost over their normal pack instinct bonus…just a suggestion (Boomers)
Phoenix: Right now we don’t have any plans to adjust creature herding values, but we will certainly take note of these suggestions and add them to our backlog.
Mesanna: We love to hear everyone’s ideas so please keep them coming.
Assassin Honed weapons – There should be more interest in these great weapons, but unfortunately most people agree that suffering from a lower weight intensity (450 instead of 500) AND the inability to enhance make these pointless items.Why not allow them to be enhanced? Keep the lower intensity as an offset. Breathe some interest back in these! (Jynxx)
I would like to know if there are any plans to look at Assassin Honed weapons at all. For the difficulty it takes to get the weapon you actually want, they should at least be useable. It would be nice if they could be reforged and enhanced, then I could see them being worth the effort it takes to get them, currently I have trouble giving away some of them. Also I would love to see some actual numbers on them, and a better description than what we got in the pub 74 notes:
New Item Property: Assassin Honed (found on items in the treasure room) – A successful hit with a weapon will provide additional bonus damage based on the attacker facing the same direction as the target. The percentage of the damage is based on the weapons original swing speed. Ranged weapons have a 50% chance to proc.
I love the concept, it makes positioning while melee fighting important, however I’m not sure wether it is the 450 imbuing cap and the fact that they cant be enchanced that makes them less desireable. A positive spin would be potentially when the weapon rebalance happens, some more of the assassin honed weapons may become popular.
Currently it seems that this post is the extent of player understanding of the property:
Assassin Honed. | Stratics: A Career Path in Gaming Thank You. (Mentiras)
Bleak: There are no current plans to allow these weapons to be reforged but we will look into allowing Assassin Honed weapons to be enhanced. The damage bonus scales based on the original weapon speed were 2 second weapons can receive up to a 73% damage bonus while 4 seconds weapons can receive up to a 33% damage bonus when triggered. The damage bonus is subject to the 300% damage cap.
Would it be remotely possible to have some sort of Exodus life bar, or on screen timer message, pop up when a group trying to place Summoning Altar is not allowed? Then the group waiting can know if Exodus is still alive, and when he dies, or how many minutes until the altar can be placed.The not knowing if Exodus just went below 60%, or he died 9 minutes ago, really leaves players up in arms about what they should do, wait or find another adventure for a while.Since UO has so many various messages pop up on screen, seems like a countdown timer wouldn’t be difficult to program. (think of the 5,4,3,2,1 minute Compassion Escort messages for example) (madmischlers)
Kyronix: We do not have time this upcoming publish to addresss this but we will add it to the next publish. We can add a feature to the zealot NPC outside of Exodus’ lair…maybe a crystal ball that shows Exodus’ health/time till respawn.
