House of Commons from 2004-06-03

House of Commons from 2004-06-03

Brannoc	Good evening and welcome to another great Stratics house of commons chat, tonight our guests are the developers of Ultima Online! The topic will be 7th Anniversary Edition and EM Events so please restrict questions to those topics.
Brannoc	Please send said questions to [QT]Brekkee or [QT]^J^ - to do so type /query NICK and type in the window that pops up. Questions sent to myself or the developers will not make it into the lineup, so don't bother. Full logs of the chat will be up on www.stratics.com shortly after the chat.
Brannoc	So without further ado we'll start with a brief introduction from the developers, now would be a good time to send those questions.
Vex	Howdy! I'm still Vex, designer on the UO team. I did some of the technical work on the 7th anniversary items and will probably field those questions.
OSI_speedman	Hi I'm Speedman, server programmer and master of all that is fast. I'm working on the new expansion pack
Binky_EA	Howdy all, I'm Binky, the Online Community Manager, and I have the UO logo tattooed on my right arm. =)
Fertbert	I the live team lead, and did a lot of coordination work for the 7th Anniversary.
Niobe	I'm Niobe, I'm working on the expansion pack. Hi everyone.
Hanse	Halloo... I'm Hanse (yes, the Hanse's PvP server was named after me by Fertbert). I did a little stuff for artists to get new items into 7th Anniversary, but I'm primarily in charge of PvP balance changes for Publish 25, at the moment.
Rugen	Hiya. I'm a engineer working on the expansion pack, and I have nothing witty to add.
Toes	Power gamer, lead programmer, monkey. Hi. ^^
Kerowyn	Kerowyn here. Online Content Editor for UO.com. Thanks for joining us tonight. :)
Zilo	Hi everyone, I'm Zilo, the UO Event Lead. We've got a few EMs in here as well, Theowulf (Napa), Nyssa (Lake Austin), Glamdring (Lake Superior), Nikademus (Atlantic) and Sienna, (Oceania)
Brannoc	*CitizenKane2* Formosa, Arirang and Balhae do not seem to be having events of the same frequency as other EM supported shards. Are there any plans to improve the situation for events for these shards?
Zilo	That's going to change. We're working with the Korean GM support to implement events on those shards. You should start to see events there, weekly, in the upcoming months.
Brannoc	*JackerCrack* Will These Gift Items Like The Royal Leggings of Embers Be Blessed Like The Other Gifts We Have Recived?
Vex	Yes, the'll be blessed. They'll also have max durability and max Self Repair, so the'll be indestructible through use as well.
Brannoc	*Sam_Cox* when will the 7th ann. items be released on test sosaria for balance testing?
Fertbert	Once they're ready and the client patch is deployed. I expect that this will happen sometime next week if all goes well.
Brannoc	*Atticus* Will the 7th anniversary items also be blessed on siege?
Vex	Right now there hasn't been a final decision made on that score. The issue is still up for discussion, and we'd like to have more discussion on the Stratics boards about it.
Brannoc	*Rippen* is this a complete version of UO containing all that is needed for play?
Toes	It's AOS plus the latest patches, so yes... everything you've dreamed of and more.
Brannoc	*Mani* Do these silly new poison changes force me to carry 50 cure pots around? Ive never really used pots :[
Hanse	Nope. You can use Archcure to cure poison, now. The cure spell was overpowered, though.
Hanse	Archcure casts as a 3rd circle spell with a cost of a 4th circle spell.
Hanse	Also, infecting strike requires the poison skill to do more than 1st level poison.
Brannoc	*Sabre* Will we see events that leave a more lasting impression within UO? Like new tameables, monsters, etc?
Zilo	The event program while rather dynamic, doesn't have the ability to add new tameables, or monster types (I'm assuming you mean persistant and reoccuring) to the game, without some sort of Publish. So no, you wont see that sort of thing from the events, that will come with Publishes, and expansions.
Brannoc	*QOTSA* "Where is the special something vets will love? is it the 6th char slot?"
OSI_speedman	Well, SunSword just shouted a big "YES" over the cube wall
	* Fertbert dashes off to conduct a phone interview. *
Brannoc	*NiTeRiS* I was wondering, when will we hear about more 7AE Gifts?
Binky_EA	We actually just released information on the Hearth of the Home Fire at uo.com/7gifts. Look for more next week.
Brannoc	*Schimmy* Will there be any attempt to make the spawn more randomized at EM Events? It is too easy right now for someone to camp the good spots making it hard for other people to join in the action.
Zilo	I gonna guess that you're talking about the persistant spawn that occurs during the town sieges. Like any other spawn spot in the game, it can get predictable (and monopolized). I will make a concerted effort in future events to spread the spawn out to more random locations. Thanks for bringing that up. Schimmy 1, Zilo 0.
Brannoc	*[I-C]Alderis* Will you have to get the 7th ed game box to beable to get the UO birthday items? Or is that just for the extra char slot?
OSI_speedman	There are some restrictions on account age, etc to giving out the gifts. Getting the box is the only way to get the 6th character slot though.
Binky_EA	Everyone will receive one 7AE item on UO's birthday. But if you get the 7TH Anniversary Edition you have the opportunity to get two items!
OSI_speedman	Plus it's really cool and collectable :)
Brannoc	*Zwiftef* With the seventh anniversery, will you be developing a shard for players that played during the 'golden age' of UO?
Toes	No.
Brannoc	*[I-C]Nixon* Is there more events in trammel planned? I dont like going to Fel all the time only to be killed by hoardes of pks. It seems all events end up in Fel
Nikademus	We plan locations in our events that are appropriate for our plot. Only about 1 in 4 end up in Felucca.
Nikademus	When EMs are playing enemy bosses, we have to go over to Fel in order to PvP. That's the only time we *must* go to Felucca
Brannoc	*Sue[S-C]afk* Guys, I know you must be sick of this question by now, but any word on a european store presence for the Seventh Anniversary Edition from EA yet? (or even a website presence).
Binky_EA	We are working with our partners in the different territories to secure distribution. Right now we don't have an answer. We should know more next week. Keep checking the boards and the 7th AE site. As soon as I know anything I will post it.
Brannoc	*Toasty* Will the 7AE version feature any upgrade keys like the AoS box did or just new account keys?
OSI_speedman	The 7AE (or as we're affectionately calling it internally, T7A) will include an upgrade code to get the sixth character slot
OSI_speedman	Plus you will get 7 buddy registration codes
OSI_speedman	plus you get an account creation code which will give you a brand new account with 6 characters
Brannoc	*BlackAngel_GL* How will EM events compare to the Seer quests of the past?
Glamdring	The EM events are more fluid and dynamic than the seer quests of the past. Seer quests were fantastic, but we can make events even better and they will continue to get better as we go along
Brannoc	*Sam_Cox* will there be new vet rewards, since there's a 7th anniversary coming up?
Toes	That's not a decision we've made yet. We'll post something as soon as we have.
Brannoc	afk* Will the remaining 4 virtues be defined in the near future, after or with 7th anniversary?
Vex	No. The 7th Anniversary Edition won't contain any new virute-related content, and it's not slated for near-future developent either. The Virtues are key to Ultima and they are never far from our minds, but fully integrating them in the game remains a long-term goal for now.
Brannoc	*Sabre* I have been holding my AOS gift choice. Will I need to pick it before 7AE?
Vex	No. Hang on to the choice as long as you like.
Brannoc	*Salt* Will the weapons and armor be GM Quality, Better, or Worse, or Artifact Quality?
Vex	They will be very powerful but not ridiculously so. I can't go into detail right now, though.
Brannoc	*Schimmy* Did you ever announce what the next expansion was going to be called internally? You had a big thing about it but I never saw a final answer and mine was the koolest one!
Binky_EA	We are just calling it "Expansion Pack" internally.
Brannoc	*Sketchy[MTC]* Can you dev types make the EMs use cooking, hearding, and camping in an event? That would be cool!
Zilo	No there are no plans for an eve.. wait. Yes. Yes we will work to include an event that requires some of the less popular skills.
	* Hanse hides his mongbat muffins. *
Brannoc	And our final question for the evening... *Atticus* Does Bink really have a uo logo tattoo on his arm?
Binky_EA	Yes, I really have a UO logo tattooed on my right arm. I got it on UO's 5th anniversary. I have been associated with Ultima Online in some way or another for the past 8 years of my life. I love this game. It deserves a tattoo. I also got a Lake Austin icon tattooed on my left forearm when I moved from Austin to San Francisco!
Vex	Binky always wins the "I'm more hard core than you" contests.
Binky_EA	Ill post pictures tomorrow =)
Binky_EA	Everyone will receive one 7AE item on UO's birthday. But if you get the 7TH Anniversary Edition you have the opportunity to get two items!
Binky_EA	Also, if you are in the San Fran area, don't forget about the Meetup on Monday. I am bringing a lot of cool goodies to give out!
Brannoc	I'd like to thank ya'll for joining us tonight, please be sure to stop by again next time for another great chat!
Niobe	Night everyone!
LadyLu	Bye Bye
Sienna	night guys!
OSI_speedman	Thanks for joining us, everone