House of Commons from 1999-10-07

House of Commons from 1999-10-07

Glamdring	Greetings and thank you for attending tonight's Open House.
Glamdring	Tonight's chat is focusing on "In Developement"
Glamdring	I will be our moderator for this evening. In order to submit questions please /msg or /query Xander, XenaDragon or Niobe
Glamdring	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, or myself--these questions will be ignored.
Glamdring	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.
Glamdring	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.
Glamdring	Thanks for coming, everyone. We will now begin accepting questions.
Glamdring	*deVoca* I believe we were told that the ticket value of an item was going to be the value an npc vendor would buy an item for. Empirical evidence from TC on the other hand, seems to indicate that its significantly lower, for a particular item, even lower than NPCs have ever bought one for. What's the story here?
SunSword	This is an interesting problem. And of course TC is specifically there to find out this kind of thing. The problem is that the base value of items to NPCs IS what you were getting in tickets. However,
SunSword	NPC's also take into consideration what they normally buy/sell, the number of those items in the local area, and the number of those items currently in their inventory, which causes a slight adjustment
SunSword	because the ticketbarrel doesn't have a set of things that it only buys/sells it gives the base price.
SunSword	There may be a slight adjustment we can do, we shall see.
Glamdring	*TL_Urtho_CGL* will anything be done about not being able to lockdown next to doors and steps.... or the fact of carpenter add-ons taking up multiple lockdowns or not being able to be locked down at all.... abbatoir, 9 for a pentagram.....etc
SunSword	At the moment, there is no plan to change the behavoir of lockdowns next to doors and steps. Nor the carpenter addons shouldn't actually take true lockdowns.
SunSword	If you have other examples of items that need special casing like the abbatoir, you should send your concerns to me at [email protected]
SunSword	um
Glamdring	*Ellsbeth* When are Stackable Potions or another solution for potions going to be added? (Before they decay I hope)
SunSword	Yes, we are currently looking at a few solutions, I believe the one currently at the top of the list is the "alchemy potion barrel" (firedog is looking into it)
Glamdring	*Chaos66* Why is the Ticket number for statues and armor so high, I can understand the Deeds of Blessing (They have ACTUAL game value), but the others are nearly impossible to obtain (other than for mega-horders), can we please have it brought down (and the reason so many got it on Test center was because they cheated with bag contense). And can we please have the ticket system continue after the two weeks are up
SunSword	The ticket system is currently under scrutiny. We're reviewing the system and refining some of the features that were causing issues. If any major price changes or feature changes are made, we'll let you know ASAP.
Glamdring	*Formica* since the ticket system has been delayed - and this is just fine, I'd like to see it relatively bug free myself :-) - do you forsee the scaled value for magic items making it into the initial release of the ticket system, or will we still have to wait?
toad	We are intending to scale the value of items with magical properties based on those properties, the ticket system is stull under scrutiny so there will probably be some changes made to it.
SunSword	essentially, we're working on a good formula to calculate the value.
Glamdring	*Elwynn* With the impact that the upcoming changes will have on public rune libraries, what do you think about the idea of adding in Rune Books? What about allowing us to lock runes down INSIDE a non-secure container?
SunSword	runebooks would be a fairly large feature additions, which makes it's chances low to none. I'm currently investigating the ablility to lockdown runes INSIDE another lockeddown (non-secure) container. I haven't found any problems with it *yet*. They'll still take up normal lockdown count though...
Glamdring	Mordran* If a player heals a red and inherits the red flag will it increment the ping-pong counter when the player returns to blue?
SunSword	no
SunSword	They're not actually getting a murder count
SunSword	They're getting temporarily associated with the type of person they healed. This WHOLE system is being revised, it still has lots of issues.
Glamdring	*TL_Dew_GL* Can you explain the information about locked down chests under In Dev a bit further?
SunSword	This is the best way for me to describe it:
SunSword	lockdown = decoration
SunSword	secure = storage
SunSword	the point is, if you have a container that's locked down, the items in it would decay
SunSword	rather than let that happen, I was just going to prevent you from putting anything IN the locked down container.
SunSword	I hope that's clear now...
Glamdring	*Tri O'Trade* Will the weight limit be taken off the player-controlled vendors as well??
SunSword	No plans to do this at the moment.
Glamdring	*Myrddraal* Could have stack usability for for cloth and all its components, a few days ago i wasted an hour cutting 1000 bandages....one swift stroke would help ;)
SunSword	yeah, bandages
SunSword	well
SunSword	it's a good idea
SunSword	but it's not happening in the near future.
Glamdring	*Web Question* Isn't the house restrictions being proposed a bit extreme, it will hurt a lot of players with Vendors, mining shacks, guild houses and the like. How about you made the limit 1 house (of any size) and one small house (for either vendor/shack or to live in, if the main building is guild house), this would still cut down on houses, since the problem creators have 4~5+ houses/towers...please consider this.
SunSword	That change is still a few months off. As it is currently phrased, "no" it will be one house per account.
Glamdring	*Flame* With the proposal of just one house per shard per account - how will players be able to upgrade to a larger home if they so wish? Also, what about those players who own both a successful shop and a private home?
SunSword	As I mentioned above, that system is still being worked on, we obviously must allow a transition period for players to "upgrade" or "move" into a new house. As for those who already have a successfull setup, this change is not retro-active so it won't affect them.
Glamdring	*Joshua Rowan* Since the Ticket Program has been delayed anyway, can you go ahead and add in the code to make Statue & Phoenix Armor NON-Random?
SunSword	Hmm..
SunSword	We could, but I currently have no intention of making this change.
SunSword	I suppose if you throw me, firedog, and tyrant in a cage and let us battle it out, the outcome might be different, but that's because it'd be 2 on 1. :)
SunSword	post the web question
SunSword	(oops)
Glamdring	*Web Question* The removal of town fighting is conspicuously absent from the Dev List and yet this more than perhaps anything else would improve PvP. Any eta on this or has it been scrapped as a change?
SunSword	As was foretold on the website and on other forums, big changes are in store for PvP in UO. Removal of Town fighting, or at least changing the nature of town fighting is certainly likely, but not for several more months.
Glamdring	*ASRC_lordjim* why such a small change in lockdowns for large buildings? i mean only 12 lockdows added to a 2 story isn't alot:< and i have lots of decor on my public 2 story
SunSword	The increase may not sound like much, but 120 lockdowns is a reasonably large number. Everyone is going to have to adjust some under these changes.
Glamdring	*SC_Lietgardis* "Would it be possible to make it so that characters belonging to an NPC guild would display their skill title in that skill when at a certain level of proficiency?"
SunSword	We're currently examining title control in conjunction with skill control. While skill management is a definite, I cannot promise title control, although I'd LOVE to see it.
Glamdring	*Web Question* When will Skill Management go on test center, and what is the target date for implementation on all shards?
SunSword	As you all know, I can never answer a question like this with a firm date. Soon after the item reduction measures go in, the changes are pretty much ready for TC, but one thing at a time...
Glamdring	*Joshua_Rowan* Since you are altering price values on Magic Items for the ticket system, can you also alter it for NPC Buying as well?
Sage	I think this will be a good test of this system. Obviously doing this with NPCs will be a bit more complicated, but if this works out there is a possibility, although it is not scheduled any time soon.
Glamdring	*C_Caprial-GL* Regarding co-ownership of houses, will my other characters, who are now friends, automatically become co-owners?
SunSword	No, we don't want to take the risk of making that decision for you. Co-owner should be your most trusted friends. You'll have to assign them personally.
SunSword	I'm sorry
SunSword	I mis-read that question :)
SunSword	My bad.
SunSword	YES.
SunSword	Automatically your other characters will be auto-co-owners.
	* SunSword ducks. *
Glamdring	*Tahkamata* What are you doing to prevent people from macroing items by the boat load just for trashing and the scavenger hunt of special items? (like me) Have you seen an increase in backups from any of this so far?
SunSword	The macro policy is being strictly enforced. Don't do it.
Glamdring	*Propaganda* Why such 'drastic' changes? I mean people will throw out a LOT of stuff for the tickets, the housing changes seem so unnecessary. Aren't you asking for too much at one time?
SunSword	Because server performance issues have become intolerable, and because putting in the ticket system isn't a permenant ceiling on the item count, we had to do something that would have a long term account.
SunSword	We know you want more housing
SunSword	We know you want a true PvP solution (enhancement for both sides)
SunSword	In order to give this to you, we had to trim down the item count (adding more housing and land would've made the situation much worse)
Sage	Also, if we kept the ticket system in, the items would devalue. It is a good one time solution but not a good permanent solution. Decay is a good solution that allows for exapansion...
SunSword	Believe me, we knew it would make people unhappy when we announced this. But the team had to step up and be bite the bullet on this issue and do the right thing.
Glamdring	*Slainte_LS* Is there a specific reason that towers are not being given extra lockdowns as the other houses are?
SunSword	yes. they already had plenty.
Glamdring	*Elwynn_GL* Followup...any change of exepting runes from decay? Many rune libraries are done for with the number of lockdowns... Virtually everything in the house would be a rune, and still not really enough to keep a good collection open.
SunSword	I'm aware that rune libraries are at risk here. We're looking at the problem. Keep sending those suggestions (yes, we've all heard the runebook idea).
Glamdring	*Corgan_gl* Why doesn't the number of secure containers increase with the number of co-owners? That way guilds can use their house for more storage if they have a lot of members.
SunSword	There has to be a hard ceiling on that number, if this were the case, every house would fillup with co-owners for more storage and it would counterract the whole thing.
Glamdring	*Ranth* Why take away townfighting? Why not add instead the abillity to take over towns, run towns, have a revolution, etc. This would add to roleplaying a LOT. ..Especially if some kind of control over NPC'S was given once a town is taken over. Sure, there are holes in that idea, but you get the gist...Will any of that ever be possible?
SunSword	Keep an eye out on the next six months. It should be pretty neat. As I mentioned before, I'm saying we might modify townfighting, not remove it altogether. :)
Glamdring	This ends our Q & A session tonight...I would like to thank everyone for coming
Glamdring	and thanks to SunSword, toad, Sage and Firedog
SunSword	Thanks folks.
Glamdring	Please join #ultima-online if you wish to chat more