House of Commons from 2002-03-07

House of Commons from 2002-03-07

Kehleyr	Good evening everyone, thank you for coming to tonight's Ultima Online open house. This Stratics House of Commons chat is a direct connection between you the players and the designers, programmers and community staff of Ultima Online.
Kehleyr	This chat will be in a moderated format. To ask a question of the OSI Staff, please /msg or /query the question takers that will be listed in the topic of the channel. These question takers will then present the questions to the Ultima Online evelopment/community/programming team here with us this evening.
Kehleyr	Our question takers are: Gilthas, Peaches and Lord‐Xanthor
Kehleyr	I will be your moderator tonight... I will post your question into the House of Commons chat channel and the girls (and guys) will answer those that they can.
Kehleyr	Please remember that your question may have been asked previously or may not be able to be answered in a public forum. Please do not message or query myself or anyone from OSI, these questions will be ignored. We encourage you to read the logs of the previous Open Houses, which are available at http://uohoc.stratics.com
Kehleyr	Tonight's topic is open to General Discussion :)
Kehleyr	Please do not direct questions to myself or to any of the OSI staff aside from the names in the topic pls, we will ignore you.
Kehleyr	*Xena* Could you describe the "new" house system, and will the new system be in publish 16?
Prophet	The new house system hasn't been made public yet, because we are still working on the design. We are looking for a balance between the old housing system (opening doors to refresh) and a possible new auto-refresh system.
Prophet	Sorry I don't have any more details at this time.
Kehleyr	*Rockie* Are there any plans to eliminate the one red all red system? Thats the biggest problem alot of us have with the new program.
Evocare	There is no one-red-all-red in the latest proposal that is on the uo.com site
Evocare	It has been gone for a few weeks now. ;]
Sannio	You can read the latest information in that regard at http://update.uo.com/design_409.html
Kehleyr	*Jediman* In the Justice system for the Justice Virtue... if a red were to waltz over into Trammel, would I be able to whack him there, or would I have to go to felluca to do it and gain in Justice?
Evocare	Reds still can't go to Trammel, so no, you wouldn't be able to whack them there. You'll have to find them in Felucca.
Kehleyr	*Khonsu{OES}* I don't know if this has been answered already but on Atlantic I havent seen any of the new ridables I keep hearing about are they out already or coming out soon?
Calandryll_OSI	The new rideables (and other monsters in LBR) are being released in the scenarios. The upcoming scenario does have one of the rideables in it. :)
Kehleyr	*Buccaroo* Is there any chance the scroll idea will be scratched? many players are worried about it imbalancing pvp.
Evocare	No plans to scrap the scroll idea. However, there are some tweaks to combat that would go along with the scrolls in order to prevent imbalancing effects.
Evocare	Once these items are on test center, you'll have the chance to verify for yourself that things are all gonna be ok. ;]
Evocare	or air your concerns if you still have them. =]
Kehleyr	*Slamer* is GGS definatly in for publish 16?
Prophet	Evo or me?
Evocare	We do plan on getting it into publish 16 at this point, but nothing is definite until it's live. =]
Evocare	Have anything to add Prophet? ;]
Kehleyr	*Renegal_Varler* are new skills going to be implemented into the upcoming scenarios, for tailors etc like masonry and glass blowing were
Evocare	We do expect the scenarios to continue to improve a variety of skills.
Kehleyr	*Snake* Have Bulk Order Deeds been started on (or proposed) for skills besides Tailoring and Blacksmithing?
Hanse	We don't have any definite plans for other skills yet.
Evocare	We certainly won't rule it out though.
Evocare	Just one thing at a time. ;]
Kehleyr	*Deja* concerning Archery and Bowyering - will archery ever get JUST insta-hit (where we don't have to stand about until it hits) and for bowyers, will there be new bows or whatnot sometime?
Evocare	Maybe sort of.
Prophet	Sort of Maybe
Evocare	If we change the archery hits, it will be to prevent players from being able to run away from arrows/bolts
Evocare	however, you'd still have to stand still while firing.
Kehleyr	*Wanderer* Will the Order/Chaos system ever be re-vamped? Perhaps say...to be an Order/Chaos guard instead of PvP is a status symbol, like Glorious Lord (become an Order/Chaos guard through NPC quests from the guards themselves "Quest of the Realm")? Just an idea ;) And eventually a revamping of all NPC guilds, with quests too? That would be neat!
Evocare	No plans to change order/chaos right now.
Kehleyr	*Beleth[OES]* Have there been any decisions made on the requirements of the skeletal mount? On the forums, many people have posted there feelings about this and I personally would like to know if this will be another "tamer only" mount
Evocare	No scenario spoilers for you right now. Sorry!
Kehleyr	*Jarin* Is the evil in a can spawn for the scrolls going to use existing creature spawns or will different creature be spawned to what is in the dungeons/Lost Lands noow?
Evocare	It'll use the same creature spawns. However, the system has undergone a bit of tweaking for the sake of improvements in publish 16.
Evocare	You'll want to check it out on Test Center once it's there. =]
Kehleyr	*Jarin* Is GGS going to give the same rate of gain for every skill?
Prophet	GGS will guarantee the same rate of gain across every skill yes. But remember GGS gains are _on top of_ regular skill gains. So it doesn't in anyway limit skill gain, such as ROT does. It just adds automatic skill gain in the very unlucky chance that you haven't gained skill normally in a long time. And the time is determined per .1 point all the way up to 120 now.
Kehleyr	*Kandalor* Are current murderers going to still receive a reprieve when the new system (whatever final form it may take) is implemented?
Evocare	no
Evocare	However, keep in mind that if you die in the Fel dungeon/LL areas you won't take stat loss on your next res.
Evocare	So, as long as you can keep your nose out of trouble in the normal fel overland, you'll be fine
Kehleyr	*Catgirl[UOPG]* Has any thought been given to the Lumberjackers who will be using the new 120 Swords / 120 Tactics / 120 Anatomy / 100 Lumberjacking templates, with 145 Str, 120 Dex; using Vanq axes? As they're going to be either one-hit killers, or really really close.
Evocare	Yes, we've looked at it very carefully, and you won't get one-hit.
Evocare	Like we've said on several occasions, there are several tweaks to combat that will ensure specialist characters are viable, but not dominant.
Kehleyr	*LP_Azreal_Atl* Is there any plans for hooded robes to be introduced with the new clothing coming out with LBR?
Evocare	nope
Kehleyr	*Deja* concerning the skill/stat scrolls, once on test, were we going to be able to set our skills there, or will we be given a few scrolls to test it out ... or would we have to go to the spawns to get them then test it our?
Evocare	Good question. We do want to allow players to test the effects of scrolls on combat, but we also want to test how hard the scrolls are for players to get.
Evocare	So, we might do a little of both.
Evocare	We aren't completely decided on that one yet, but we are aware of the issue. =]
Kehleyr	*Barrackas* Will the Lost Lands area in Felucca undergo any change in appearance or addition of new locations, with Publish 16, to complement the appearance of all these champions of evil?
Evocare	No significant visual appearances other then the ruins of the old Minax fortress, and the appearance of the new one in the normal overland areas.
Evocare	However, as the LBR fiction unfolds, you may see many changes to the world map in general
Kehleyr	*Killerspoon* Is there plans for anything to replace the bounty boards so murderers can still get a name for themselves?
Evocare	No. Although, effective murderers have a tendency to become extremely well-known with or without the boards. ;]
Evocare	In the future, we may well replace those bounty boards with another ranking system though.
Kehleyr	*Icitrik* With the impliment of the special scrolls, will there be a new title beyond grandmaster that will be displayed when your skill reaches 110.0 and 120.0?
Evocare	Yes. The current plan is to use the title "Emminent" at 110.0 and "Legendary" at 120.0
Evocare	Those two won out in a very close competition with "Worshiper of Prophet"
Evocare	But those are the breaks...
Evocare	err corretion, that's "Eminent" on the first one
Prophet	Apperently my vote was vetoed.
Kehleyr	*Jediman* Are Bards going to be able to write their own music soon? I see its already in the sounds, but no way to use it yet.
Evocare	Bards already can write their own music, it's just very difficult for other players to actually hear it in-game!
Evocare	Unfortunately, player-generated music content is a ways away for us still.
Evocare	=[
Kehleyr	*Opious* Will uo ever have away messages? so that when someone talks to you directly, you char will respond with the message you have left?
Evocare	An in-game buddy list is something we've wanted for a very long time. However, we don't have anyone actively working on one right now.
Kehleyr	*Catgirl[UOPG]* Has any consideration been given perhaps to once again giving out rewards to players active in finding bugs and reporting them on Test? As the current consensus seems to be that Test is only for players not interested in playing, or for people looking for bugs before they're released to the "live" shards for the purpose of exploiting.
Prophet	No and we probably won't be giving out rewards. But we have been throwing around ideas to increase the interest in the test centers to bring a more diverse group of people to it.
Kehleyr	*JCtheBuilder* What is the current status of carpets/floor tiles? This hasn't been touched on in a while. Will they definatly be craftable now with the new skill menus?
Evocare	They aren't in pub 16, but we haven't abandoned them.
Kehleyr	*Alex_Dragondeath* are there any plans for new ores. And such to be mined, like gemstones (rubies, emeralds, diamonds, etc.)
Hanse	Not at this time... Although, we do have new leather types that you can get off specific creatures for Tailoring.
Hanse	That will be available in publish 16 for Tailors.
Kehleyr	*Falford* i want ask when we can expect another version of the bard changes (worded how ever you think best)
Evocare	Probably sometime on Monday. Vex was out all week, thus the relative silence from us on the bard changes.
Kehleyr	*Isk* When can we expect the new Japanese style armor and clothing, I heard that they will be putting them in in the next big patch any truth to that?
Evocare	We're hoping to get them into an upcoming scenario. I won't say which one yet though.
Kehleyr	*Deja* concerning the Dungeon Wrong after the juka scenario, will it EVER go back to the 'jail theme' ... or even back to the days of the ogres/ratmen/etc? Or are Jukans, evil mage guys, overseers, and golems expected to stay forever?
Calandryll_OSI	Nothing is forever. It's possible that Wrong could get new inhabitants or the old ones could come back, but good luck trying to evict the Juka! :) We do want to keep a Britannia presence for the Juka though.
Kehleyr	*Aristotle* With the no recall into T2A will you be able to recall once in T2A or will that be stop too?
Evocare	no
Evocare	*zing*
Kehleyr	*Pikkle* Will any of the newly proposed Felucca changes find their way to SP? We desperately need some changes (such as reduced spawn) but many players are concerned about other changes (like the stat/skill scrolls) having a negative impact on our unique environment.
Evocare	Yes. SP will get the spawn and map changes.
Kehleyr	*Grond* What's the status of the commodities update? It's been "In Development" for a long while, now... Last I'd heard, it was going to be published, then was yanked for tweaking...
Evocare	Sadly, I can't guarantee they'll make it into publish 16 either. We really do want to make the change, but it might fall off the radar for this publish once again. =[
Kehleyr	*Icitrik* As this game has developed over time ive noticed that it has gone from what was a mostly solo type game to a game where you need groups to survive. Are the new Bard and Tamer changes built around a general plan to make the game where you must be in large groups to have any chance at success at pvm? If so why do this?
Calandryll_OSI	I think its more that the game has changed (or is changing) so that in order to take on a powerful creature (like a demon or dragon) you will need a group. As it should have been from the start. Soloers can still fight plenty of monsters, but the real baddies should need teamwork.
Kehleyr	*Vic_Twenty* With no recall in the Feluccan Lost Lands, unwary travelers who perish on board will have extreme difficulty in recovering their vessels, leading to a possible issue with decaying ships cluttering the seas? Any thoughts on this?
Prophet	The number of ships actually traveling in the lost lands is generally less then the normal area, as well ships decay relatively quiqly compared to houses, so no I don't think this will become an issue.
Kehleyr	*Meph* Is there any possibility for a fix for the random sort guild stones in the future? Most of the large guild across all shards are having to work very hard at managing thier stones/members as well as deal with internal threats which they cannot get ride of unless the stone issues are fixed and they begin to work properly.
Prophet	Fixing guildstones has been on our radar for a while and alas will not make it into publish 16 but hopefully we will be able to get this into a publish soon after.
Kehleyr	*Catgirl[UOPG]* What's the status on that "plant growing" stuff that was hidden away in one of the localization files? Was that just a joke, or is that something serious?
Calandryll_OSI	Right now it's scheduled for scenario 4. It's a large system though, so no guarantees, but it is something we really want to include in the scenario.
Kehleyr	*Someone* Is Tajima the BEST producer or what?
Prophet	Yea baby Yea!
Oaks	Can I get a hellz yeah?
Prophet	Shimmy!
Evocare	Tough nuts!
Oaks	And let me just add... *Zing!*
Tajima	I'm gonna get you for that one...
	* Oaks snaps his fingers and points at you. *
	* Sannio rolls his eyes *
Kehleyr	isn't that tough nutz? :P
Prophet	You can follow after a zing. I mean that just closes the conversation.
Prophet	can't that is
Kehleyr	Thankyou everyone for taking the time to attend tonight's HOC and a special thankyou to everyone at Origin for being here to make it possible, as always we are grateful :)
Kehleyr	The logs will be posted at http://uohoc.stratics.com
	* [QT]Gilthas zoops *
	* Sannio hands out Greywolfe CookiesTM to all *
Kehleyr	Please do not PM the OSI staff, they have homes and jobs to go to :P
Tajima	No, we don't.
Evocare	hehe
Kehleyr	sorry, the pub then ;)
Sannio	Thanks for coming, everyone!
Kehleyr	Feel free to join #ultima-online for further discussion :)
Hanse	Actually, I just sell mongbat crackers for a living.
Tajima	Nutricious AND delicious