by Azaroth | June 5th, 2010
So it was recently suggested that I take some Qs and A them in a spot where they can be read – unlike PhatChat, where the answers scroll off and are lost forever to the dark pit of deleted internet stupidity.
I’ll be taking your questions over the next couple of days here. Initially I wrote that this particular post would be locked to comments because I don’t want a huge and unwieldy blog thread that people have to scan through for answers. Instead, I’ll allow the discussion instead of getting my inbox spammed and I’ll just make a second post in a few days and separate the good Q&A from the general chitchat and trolling.
Awesome! Go!
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Well I really opened a can of worms with my sarcasm.
So now you know why the statloss post didn’t stay up.
Wow, the Unknowns. You guys fought dirtier than everyone.
Ox: Good Grief!
FYI, I’m also just replying.
I don’t mean to sound like you can’t disagree with me or that you shouldn’t. I try to watch my tone, but maybe I’m just a jerkass.
So yeah, all points of view are welcome. I just don’t have to agree with you either. ;)
To me, full loot is one of the core things that makes UO what it is. Without it, it’s just not UO even if it’s running on the same engine. That’s why I quit OSI when item insurance was put in. It’s not a matter of taking people’s phat lewts, moreso that it’s dangerous to do anything in UO because you can die and lose all of your stuff at any time.
So here’s a good question, if you turn UO into a PvE game, why would any PvEers want to play it? There are a ton of BETTER PvE games than UO could ever hope to be simply because of their better and prettier engines. UO live has a ton of cool shit for PvEers to do, and UO live is mostly dead (except for the Asians that can’t stop).
The goal should NOT be to turn UO into a PvE game to attract PvEers, it should be to turn UO into the best damn PvP game possible at all costs, because PvPers are the ONLY players that still benefit from UO being around at all. Just as a concept that I’m not advocating, say all damage in UO to players was reduced by 3/4th. OMG WE CAN’T 2v2. Well, guess what now you HAVE to have large groups of players to kill other groups of players working in coordination. Suddenly, UO is no longer a small group PvP game and is instead a large group PvP game. This probably isn’t the way to go, but it’s an example of how you could focus on changing UO’s PvP dynamics. What about Shadowbane’s town system? No more free placing houses, have houses only in City areas that are built by players and capturable and give you some kind of huge benefit. There are a ton of ideas that could make PvP better, and that should be the sole focus of IPY 2.0.
“The goal should NOT be to turn UO into a PvE game to attract PvEers, it should be to turn UO into the best damn PvP game possible at all costs, because PvPers are the ONLY players that still benefit from UO being around at all.”
I don’t know if it’s an all or nothing proposition. It seems like the thing to recognize is that it’s important to Az to at least be considerate of the players who, for whatever reason, come to IPY to PvE. We may not fully understand it, or agree with it, but we can at least see that it’s an important part of his vision for the server, and try to be helpful.
What with this being the Q&A discussion, maybe a good question for Az would be this:
Why is PvE important to your vision for IPY?
I could probably make a pretty accurate guess, but your specific thoughts would definitely be something worth including in a Q&A. Especially if you’re planning on including not-full-loot circumstances for the sake of PvE.
Well, I know that all of the people on Stratics clamoring for a classic shard aren’t PvPers. In fact, I bet very few of them are. Those that are would never be able to compete with the guys that have been playing Pre-UO:R PvP for the last ten years straight.
We need to stop pretending that only PvPers play UO… and we REALLY need to stop with the opinion that only PvPers SHOULD play UO.
People need to stop jumping over cliffs because I’m proposing a few small things to keep other players busy. You’re like those Stratics people who can’t stand anything other than their own play style being concentrated on.
Guys, look. UO at its best is a melting pot of playstyles. We should all know that by now. When it’s all one type or all the other type it sucks and it doesn’t work.
EA UO is “all the other type” because they made it that way. I’m not proposing a decade of 100% PvE-related development here… I’m suggesting a few small things to keep the shard’s melting pot bubbling.
I simply disagree that it’s possible to keep PvEers playing on a UO server. The engine just isn’t as feature rich as other engines that could more capably cater to PvEers (EQ custom servers, WoW custom servers). I think PvEers get bored as quickly as any PvPer, it’s just the PvPers yell on message boards when they get bored so it’s more obvious. The PvEers clamoring on Stratics for a “classic” UO shard are nostalgic; that’s it, and nostalgia will fade quickly when they play.
Yes it will. Those people aren’t fully considering what they’re asking for. They’ll get tired of being wtfpked and completely outmatched in PvP and having absolutely jack to do in PvE.
But I still fail to understand why I should put up a shard with skillgates and a 3 month autodestruct timer. We’ve established that those PvE players probably won’t last long, so why can’t we try to do a few things that really don’t impact anyone else in any serious way and try to keep the shard kicking a little longer than it otherwise would, with a healthier, more diverse population that it may have otherwise had?
I’m a PvP guy. Look at IPY. One of the biggest complaints about IPY was that it was ALL about PvP and that’s all I ever concentrated on.
I’m also trying to make a healthy game world here that sticks around for the long term. I’m sorry dudes, but this “PvP for PvPers!” stuff just isn’t logical with that goal in mind.
If I fail, I’m going to fail trying NOT to this time. I’m not going to go down just repeating the same mistakes I made last time around. There’s absolutely no point in that.
Honestly, I’ve thought for awhile that the only future for a UO server is one that wipes every 3 months or so. Track “most kills” “most murders” “top duelists” “most gold in bank account” “most monsters slain” etc. and have a page on the website devoted to each of these so that everyone remembers it as well as giving the players some kind of small token in game to commemorate what they’ve done in the past. Every wipe change something slightly such as PvP mechanics, gold drops, just SOMETHING to keep it fresh and new. Limit the world size to force player interaction and make land more valuable.
This model would open up so many possibilties, and would prevent THE ABSOLUTE INEVITABILITY of players of all types getting bored and leaving.
IPY: Season 6. All season 5 changes reverted. No re-cast delays, halved spell casting time! New PvE encounter added in deceit, carry-over blessed true black tricorne hat for beating it! Regular x-bow damage increased.
Agreed & I like the your idea about SB town system.
Tho lets face it, Az wants to cater to all potential players who might want to give his project a try. Very much like IPY1.
But this time he knows many of us are eager to take advantage of his precious blues, and accordingly he will take any precaution necessary in order to provide protection for these new blues.
So what will the result be?
Look
I know it may be a bit hard to understand, but not everyone wants to PK PK PK PVP PVP PVP KILL KILL KILL all day long until their resources shrivel up and they quit the game.
the focus needs to be on pve
pve is always the fall back
it attracts players to hot spots.
it keeps the economy going
it keeps players online and in the game.
period.
I really hope IPY can be turned into something for everyone, its a noble cause, i just doubt it’s attainability and viability in todays MMO market. I’m a mainly PvE/Crafting guy and wouldn’t stand a chance against most people on here in PVP im sure. I have also voted for a classic server on stratics, but I still have reservations about catering for the PvE crowd and am 100% in favour of full loot so either im an exception or the stereotype is false. I just think the UO we know has always centred around the risk factor.
If elements such as insurance on rare PvE items is introduced (devils advocate here) then you are eliminating an element of that risk that governs the self-perpetuating content in the game which is basically co-op and FFA PvP alongside PvE.
I mean, in priciple I would just run around in full pve gear and risk no item loss? Unless you add maybe a % chance of said items being lootable.
To clarify i’m not being reactionary, argumentative or anti PvE/hardcore PvP guy here.
No, you’re overdramatizing.
I’m just curious. What would you suggest I do for PvE players?
Nothing?
Firstly, Az i’m not trying to be patronising and apologise if thats how it comes across. your the man to do this, I appreciate that so please don’t confuse me saying my mind (which I always do) with trying to diss your vision.
Back to your question of should you do nothing; Nearly, its true I don’t think PvE is as borked as many are claiming. I understand the limitations of the UO game mechanics and Sandbox game mechanics in general. PvE will always take a back seat in UO for reasons specified.
I agree, I don’t think you can operate a PvP full loot system AND a PvE badass loot system side by side like you said because players will rage quit. What I say is, if you don’t give PvE players the badass loot then there’s nothing for them to rage quit over.
If you want to improve the PvE experience, you already have Skill scrolls in, add non-tangible rewards like unique titles (most demon kills on server or top 10 troll slayers, give property upgrades, rare monster related crafting materials that can be used to tailor decorative clothes/outfits etc)
Having soulbound PvE items will sweeten the deal for PvE players (like me), but will remove/lessen the risk factor for going out of town with expensive equipment, thats all im getting at.
PK’s should also not get it easy which is why I am all for stat loss, ROT and skill scrolls. Not like im just picking on PvE here.
I understand, and I hope people are looking at my comments in much the same way. I’m not trying to be a dink, I just come across like that sometimes.
You said “if you don’t give PvE players the badass loot then there’s nothing for them to rage quit over.”
Well, my argument here is that you give them nothing to quit over because you gave them nothing to -start playing- over either. Either that, or they’re going to boredomquit before long.
Let me at least throw non-PvP people a bone or two, right? I mean I’m not asking you to put up with much here. In the end this is a minor addition and it’ll have little or no effect on anyone that doesn’t enjoy it. I already made sure that the items had zero effect on PvP… so I thought we were off to a pretty good start there.
The MMO scene has changed, dude. You know how well trying to balance a game on top of a pile of PvPers works? Yeah, not well. I mean it never did, but especially not that well in 2010. You need those “other newbs” to stick around for a little while so you’ve actually got a game WORLD and not a private Quake server with swords and mage hats.
Honestly, PvP and PKing especially is only fun when there are people to find hunting, running around, and going about their own business.
But if its so hard-core where groups of 5 pks roll around people eventually stop going to the spawns and those places become places where a group of 5 pks can fight another group of 5 pks.
And thats fine… but that is what gets old real fast–because it goes from an organic ebb and flow of fighting to something else. When its the 5 vs 5 situation if one team is going to lose (its always obvious) they will just leave.
Pvp and PKing was cool because it didn’t happen on everyone’s preapproved, agreed upon terms. That is a WoW fight. In UO, you wing it.
As was said before eventually people accumulate so much shit and everything stagnates a dexer pk now has vanq +25 kryss DPed with 7x gm skills and 100000 pots vs ______ no one is there. Fun.
My point is there is no real fun PvPing outside of special rules tournaments or real PKing without giving a concession to PvEers now. It was balanced back when everyone wasn’t 7x gm and rich. But now that that is the case, its unbalanced. Something has to be changed. I trust Azaroth can make smart changes and additions without making it OSI-like shit. We all know he won’t do that.
That’s why i quit UOSA recently, Az’s server will be better.
I’M WITH TEAM AZAROTH!
driving to denver from chicago tomorrow in 2 days, 8 hour stretches still suck balls :(
I think people are missing the point, which was made like 12 hours [and 12 posts] earlier by Puddy -
unknowns were dirty fighters.
exactly talk about the wtfpked experience
unknown’s = ‘LETS DUEL”
then use purple pots in the duel, they get redlined, run off screen, chug a g heal, then return wanting to continue the duel.
Okay, what the fuck are any of you on the last page (the page that I read) talking about? Other than Domnu, who is the most amazing poster on the planet, shut your stupid face-faces.
As for the topic at hand, here are my questions that have most likely already been asked:
1: Will there be mounts?
2: What is the housing-secure/lockdown situation like?
3: Is statloss leet?
4: Are skill-scrolls leet?
5: Is there an 18yr or older policy? The answer is yes BTW. ERA ACCURATE.
6. Will I get an alpha beta peeveepee account?
That should doer.
p.s. screw u guys
Wow what a long thread that I have missed out on… I would be interested to hear the details of this stat loss PK system you are talking about.
What if.. these armor suits were not blessed, but insured. Now hear me out… say I am in Shame and I get this sweet Blood Elemental suit to kill them with… then a PK comes and kills me. He gets my sweet weapon, my regs, my gold, my runes etc.. but he doesn’t get those two plate pieces I spent 2000 hours farming. Instead, he gets a hefty sum of gold deposited into his pack as a reward for killing me. Lets say like 5,000 per piece of armor or something that will scale up. The more pieces you have, the more it is to insure each one (Because that is less armor the guy will be able to loot off of you) This would of course come directly out of the guys bank who is wearing the armor. This is a way of policing it, sure you can keep that armor, but it is going to cost you, and only in this dungeon. Honestly as a PK I have no use for that armor, all I would do is sell it, so if you give me a good sum of gold instead, man I am all of a sudden very happy.
Or maybe a ticket or item could drop instead of that armor that you can then trade into a NPC for other items… like a trading NPC that gives you regs, or a chance at a rare weapon. Now of course you would have to regulate this so pricks don’t exploit the crap out of it… and you can do this by making the bless price quite high. This is sustainable in that the PVEr is making money to keep his items equiped, and risking that money by being in the dungeon. The PK Still gets to loot 80% of his stuff and gets compensated for the stuff he can’t loot.
It is a fine line, but I think if you keep it limited to just this type of PvE gear (NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER WEAPONS THOUGH) it would be fine.. as long as there is compensation.
And honestly, it isn’t like there will be guys running around in full suits of this stuff. From the sounds of it AZ plans to make it a very rare drop, which is exactly the pixilated crack PVErs need to stay happy.
So he gets a gorget and a pair of gloves, and that is two armor pieces you can’t loot, big fricken deal. You just made 10k off this sucka because of that plus whatever else he had on him.
Seriously if that is a make or break for some people they need to bugger off.
Another way to do it is to limit the number of insurable items, say to three. So even if he has a full suit, he still has to risk say Helm and Gorget if he insures 3 others..
“THEY’RE TALKING ABOUT ITEM INSURANCE OVER AT AZ’S BLOG!!!!! SOUND THE NERD ALARM!!!!”
Look, I can do all of this in a roundabout way if you guys are really going to get dramatic.
I realize we’re saying some bad words here in this thread, but a lot of you are really failing at taking it into perspective.
I love you guys for your staunch defense of what you think UO should be, but you’re failing to leave room in your vision of UO for “anyone else”, and that’s… well, it’s silly. That’s not how this kind of thing works.
We’ve already established that there’s nothing for PvE players in old UO. We’ve established that the people getting upset about this discussion… well, they don’t care. That’s fine, and I can do this in a roundabout way without blessing anything. But you know what? It’s still going to benefit a person that’s not you and you’re still going to get just as angry.
I’m really sorry if some of you don’t share my desire for a healthy game world that sticks around long term. Really, that sucks. I’d have loved to have you around. But that’s the vision and I’m not changing it because of some blog arguments. Sorry, yo.
… and some PvE sets that are ultra-rare… that’s really so minor, guys. Come on. It’s going to be rarer than seeing someone in a full set of invuln plate. If the stuff is 100% full drop in every situation, you’ll never see it. Ever.
What we talked about at the start still stands today.. you will never please everyone. The people who leave the shard over changes such as this one are the type of player that would be detrimental to its success anyway.
You promote a healthy sustainable population as you “skim the fat off”. Two birds, one stone?
I can tell he’s not going to like this suggestion.
But I think I got you, Az. Kill bosses, shit what were the names of those WoW dragons…, get armor that grows in color (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet)
Use armor to kill a more difficult colored dragon.
Get wtfpked and you still can try again same day.
So my Q:
What benefits in PVP Defense do these secret of mana suits possess?
An earn-able item in PVM which could benefit say one’s ability to rez after being killed @ house and fight back by simply equipping armor from pack and grabbing a weap??
This actually seems very logical to me.
Never suggested the suits would be blessed in all situations. Said they might be blessed inside their dungeon. The term “blessed” shouldn’t even be thrown around, because people will misunderstand.
Though if you’re concerned about someone’s ability to re-equip cheaper and faster than you, you can go ahead and spend 5,000 hours inside Deceit farming that set too so that you can res and beat someone with your fists (with 30ar!). That’s not really any cheaper or faster though. And I suppose you can pick a weapon up off a corpse, but anyone can pick up regs off a corpse and fight back. If we’re, you know, hypothesizing the tiny, minute little percentage of situations where this is actually detrimental to someone and totally disregarding all of the benefits. So yes, in a murder/suicide doublekill duel (inside a dungeon) wherein you’re both ressed at exactly the same moment and in a race with no assistance to loot the nearest corpse for items to fight another speedduel with and he had an autoequip macro… you would potentially be at a bit of a disadvantage.
Of course if I let you loot his hard earned PvE plate, he’ll quit.
But maybe you’re right. I can do this in a different way. The term “blessed” makes people really uncomfortable.
But really, there’s no gating or recalling in any of the dungeons so this will never be a big problem. His death will be a bit cheaper than yours ultimately (though if you’re a naked mage, I suppose not), but after all the time he spent farming that plate I think we can give him that little bonus.
Ok I think I understand more.
With that, I say add some repair fee for these sets and you’ll create clear division & understanding of play style expression between those wanting to compete in order to wear dungeon gear and those who wish to risk it all.
As a representative of the Risk It For Da Biscuit association of IPY, I conclude 30 ar suits, for those wanting to spend time crawling particular dungeons, are completely acceptable.
Go on…..!
Awesome.
Also, I like the increased repair fee. Obviously it should be difficult to repair that armor, and should probably only be able to be done by a GM Blacksmith, perhaps using some sort of item that only a GM smith can purchase from the Blacksmithing NPCs. Now you’re putting money into the player economy. I really like that.
Now about this, you’re going to need to consult with a WoW and/or Gaming Expert…Diz?
I don’t see anything wrong with the PvE plate sets being “blessed” in certain dungeons, but I don’t think they’re the best way to make PvE better. I think custom spawns, some AI work, and raid-type mobs would go a lot farther towards that goal.
Raid mobs: Imagine a raid type Lich King that teleported around his area, summoned lich lords, and had a 50/50 chance of dropping a name change or clothing bless deed when he died. That would be a super hot spot and would give PvE players something to farm. Have another raid boss that drops a random piece of true black or PvE-special-hued colored clothing un-blessed, and you have another spot. Make these raid mobs take SKILL and group coordination to take down in a large group like a PvE raid should, and give them a daily respawn timer.
Custom Spawns: Add unique mobs that spawn randomly in a very large area that drop moderately hued power level weapons. you might actually have people use TRACKING to find them! Make a spawn area well known for dropping magic weapons. Add AI for groups of monsters to work in cohesion with a leader mob that drops exceptional of loot and orc/ettin/whatever shamans that heal their group members.
You don’t need a custom gimmicky system to make UO PvE better, you just need a little creativity and you can stay within EVERYONE’S comfort zone while adding a lot of depth.
Absolutely, and there’ll be some interesting boss type mobs. But they need to drop something interesting, so combining the two ideas is best.
I did a custom dungeon last time and the end boss had a small chance of dropping a bless and silver hued tribal mask. A few people got excited about it and that was great, but you need to add things that are a bit more tangible.
The issue then becomes development time. A custom PvE plate set will take a long time to code for minimal benefit, while instead creating an entire series of unique NPCs and improving AI will take the same amount of time for much more benefit.
Absolutely. But ideally you can have both. Which is why I have a dedicated XMLSpawner guy doing some cool stuffs.
IMO blessed and colored items should always come from PVE , not pvp… it encourages pve… pvp encouragement is already there from the get-go.
Well oppinions are like assholes, everyones got one.
Thats fine, I don’t know whos “upset” about it, cause i’m cool with
what you go with, just discussing pros/cons of mechanics. I don’t see any arguing either unless I’m missing some posts… maybe discussions over the pond are different to how they work here, but everyone has been civil from what i’ve seen and no one here has threatened to quit IPY before its even launched.
so stat loss…. j/k
Yea, I don’t think anyone is too upset about it. We’re all definitely interested, though. I think most people recognize that being considerate of and appealing to PvE players is crucial if you have any hope of creating a sustainable UO world. We’ve just all got a slightly different perspective on how to do it.
There are some who want UO:Quake (hi, rabbi dan). Which sounds fun, but I don’t think Az has any interest in running a server like that.
I would actually like UO: Shadowbane, thank you very much.
Actually I was probably a little surprised that there wasn’t any serious complaints, arguing, threats, etc. I guess I just kept expecting it to come. ;)
You guys have actually been fairly cool. Which is why I still post things on this blog.
Now, I might think some of you are out of your minds… but that’s okay. Everyone has their own opinion, like nihilus said so eloquently.
I don’t think putting in some pixel crack in UO for PvE is a bad thing. The following are no-nos, though -
1- Neons. I don’t care if the weps 1-shot everything, just don’t make them hot pink or radioactive green.
2- Potentially farmable in an economically-feasible standpoint. Just like raw resources, gold, and magic weps, nothing should be attainable while unattended and nothing should have the potential to unravel the economy.
3- Not scalable. The weps should be hard coded and have same stats for anyone equipping. Since this isn’t a level based this shouldn’t be a problem but if you want to take advantage of the primitive prereqs system (60 str to equip shield, etc) that’s always been in-game, then by all means do so. One way of limiting the initial impact of this gear and dampening the immediate advantage it would give a fully suited player on say, day 5 would be to utilize prereqs. Considering that you’ve already said that skill/stat gain will be slower and more realistic than this system would sort of help to lower the motivation for PKs to seek out these specially geared PvEers, but only if statloss were in place (thus keeping the recently statlossed PK from fully equipping a certain type of suit). This could also b extrapolated to use different skills that are ALWAYS skipped over and ignored by even the most weird players – begging, herding, etc. Make a badass Dragon Slayer Suit that’s only equippable by someone with 100 herding. That’d change the char building formulas up a little bit…
Pud.S I haven’t played WoW in a super cereal manner in over three years, I ebayed my main account before the first expansion. I dunno why people think I’m a WoWer… I know a ton about the game but it’s only applcable in a past-tense context… Kinda like all of us with regards to UO — I’d say 95% of the posters on Az’s blog were T2Aers and the other 5% were UO:Rers.
colored/blessed items imo should only come from PVE and difficult quests that need to be done in a group/guild setting.
what I don’t like is ‘hey there are 50,000 trolls in vesper, whoever can hide beside the king troll as it dies and uses a easy uo script to loot the body gets the reward’
154 posts of complete nonsense.
can we get a summary post w/ some answers azaroth? :D
Obviously you haven’t actually read those posts, because that’s what Azaroth plans to do.
I AM GOING TO KILL YOU GODDAMNIT, RELEASE IT NOW
Yaht, am I answering all of these questions on the blog or doing your radio show?
Let me know.
Ummm, here?
Up to you…
I mean, I could go now, but… I am still deciding on a content delivery method, so… I’d rather keep working on finding a palatable medium setup, even though I’ve got a pretty good idea on how the format will be.
To be straight up the three most practical methods are — Ventrilo setup (for everything – recording show(s) and broadcasting), Shoutcast (and Vent for recording, etc) server, or meta-tagged .mp3 podcast available via RSS/media player/my web site.
Honestly if, and it’s a big if, official IPY Vent becomes popular (50-100 unique conns / day), then I’m probably leaning that way because of the streamlined practicality, logistics of it, and the fact that it’d only cost a few bucks a month.
I’ve been thinking that not only a podcast would be a good idea bit also a live show at a specified time where I can do the daily run-down of what’s new in IPY on a given day.
I also have obscene (no, seriously) amounts of music that would be filler if it was a broadcasted and 24/7 delivery method.
Honestly I have no idea why this post is longer than two lines, unless I’m really just typing this from the bed and using this blog as a Notepad to remind myself of things tomorrow morning.
Thx for the text space. And yeah if I were you I would definitely post your responses here – definitive statements are easier to digest on paper – nobody wants to rewind an audio file because they didn’t understand some muffled rambling response to a poorly worded question about crap like llama vortexes bring in or out.
Haha, alright. Sounds good.
Let me know what you need when you decide on something. ;)
Yaht is good at using three paragraphs to say, “here is fine.”
Az, I believe the idea behind this topic has been thrown out the window about 90 posts ago. Seems to be about the time people stoped asking legit questions. Not that I expected anything to happen differently.
Yeah, I know. I’m going to sit down and answer the actual questions and make a new post. ;)
If I may make a suggestion, in regards to your plan to involve PvE’ers and crafters, the way I see best to get around all the hassle of soul binding items or insurance is to make recipes and ingredients.
This way, the PvE’ers can farm NPC’s for that ultra-rare recipe drop, then farm for the ingredients from other NPCS (Monsters only – not from mining or other traditional, more-easy-to-macro means). Hell, I’d even give it a random chance to show up in a players back pack after killing another real player. Get them into PvP too! No insurance, no binding, everything is still up for grabs, but it can all be remade.
The items should be, as I’m sure has been repeatedly said, useful, but not overpowering, and have little impact on PvP. The ingredients should be almost as rare as the recipes.
But above all, make it “Fluffy”. By that (And I don’t know what’s technically possible, so please ignore any of this if it’s not feasible) I mean make it function just like other existing items, but look different. I know you are looking for artists, so if you can get them to make a new set of cool looking plate armor, chain, broadsword, hally, whatever, PvE’ers/Crafters/RP’ers will hunt them down just to differentiate themselves. Or even decos for housing.
Fun, interesting, and unique items that don’t imbalance and are rare, interesting, collectible, and valuable will keep PvE’ers and Crafters attention for a long time to come.
Sorry, just throwing out my thoughts on the issue.
ya instead of making blessed items lets make a ingredient system that will take months to code
no thanks sir.
Well I can’t speak as to how long it would take.. But you have to ask what’s more important:
1) That you continue to uphold the tenant that true FFA PvP with full loot is the way to go. This way everything can be looted, everything can be remade – Status Quo maintained and the longevity of the shard is enhanced. The hoarders have something to collect, crafters sought after by all because it is the only way to get these items, PvE has a more important role as materials will need to be farmed to replace what is lost – Or people will be farming and PvP’ers will have targets to kill to turn around a pay the PvE’ers for items :)
2) Get it out a few months sooner, allow for certain blessed items, and await the inevitable influx of players that will push for blessing of more things, or insurance. Failure to do so will push them away. Thus, the Sisyphus will begin pushing his boulder back up the hill.
I’m sorry, I just can’t see a bright side to allowing some items to be blessed or insurance that wouldn’t inevitably lead to the same outcome it did before. People will want to keep their items, and if you want to keep those people (And maybe you don’t, in which case, why bother with either option) concessions will have to be made.
Will there be custom housing? If not please say there will at least be marbles/small towers/villas at least ;p
or, you know, azaroth can just say “no” to handing out blessed items outside of pve and that be the end of it? on OSI 99% of items given out by GM’s/Seers were through PVE quests, and that was a perfectly fine system.
i imagine azaroth will make it so the dungeons, etc, not to mention influx of pk’s and how greedy people are – plus rare drop rate, you will probably see one special item every 4-8 months.
If they are as rare drop as that then indeed it won’t be an issue but then that goes against the whole point of introducing them doesn’t it…to encourage PvE players. One drop in 4-8 months will not encourage PvE players.
Thayn, I already brought up the “don’t give em an inch so they take a mile” issue with blessing/insurance by saying pretty much the same and making everything full loot. I think like I said, unique titles and decorative/house items even deeds are the way to go with rare PvE drops rather then item/armour sets to reduce the “OMG i got ganked and lost my uber rare drop, i quit”…if you got a deed/non combat item then you’d recall, bank it and jump into the fray with your normal gear without a care.
Az has his vision, he’s well aware of both sides of the coin so let’s just wait and see.
im reminded of why i don’t get into debates on the internet anymore, frustration.
Ah, I’ve got a sexier solution anyway.
I don’t *like* blessing things – I just felt there was no way around it if you’re doing truly rare equipment drops.
There’s a way around it, but it requires more coding. So you know how that goes.
Q – Will there be oil spills around the waters of Sosaria?
Q – Who will win the World Cup? (A – Netherlands if Robben is fit)
A: Attack of the Black Water Elementals Event – kill enough and get free pets. $2.50 to enter, goes to charities to help clean up the oil spill.
A: Who cares. Rigged.
Lord British Petroleum have been at it again? :) Blackthorn needs to know who’s ass to kick.
He’s an awful dude.
If you’re against the oil spill you are a racist and you only hate it because it’s black there I said it.
The world cup only happens once every four years because that’s how often a goal is scored.
Blessing items wouldn’t have to be the same as “only equipable and useable in (insert dungeon)”
I had a thought about scrolls though. Maybe they should only be useable by the character that loots them. I foresee things like this happening… Someone collects tons of scrolls for a skill that they are not planning to build and hoarding them away.. Then they make a post about “selling GM (whatever skill)” and making a crap ton of money.
This would happen very slowly, but it would in turn demolish the whole reason for having them in the first place. You shouldn’t be able to buy gm skills, nor should the economy get fXcked by selling GM skills.
Make em non tradeable.
az already said they would be locked down into the pack and unable to trade them.
Actually thats a perfect economy?
Player 1 selling the scrolls have spent like 20 hours gathering them all and trades that to player 2 for a heft sum of gold.
Player 2 has payed Player 1 for his 20 hours of farming = Perfect economy
Meh, like I said, was just kind of a quick side thought. Seems to be a moot point anyhow.
Your World Cup comment was ripped from the Daily Show last night!!!!!!!!!!!!1`
fyi, idea about the scrolls was just off the top of my nogin while I was posting nonsense. please list reasons why i’m a noob and a faggot etc.
you were a faggot forum guy on divinity
I have a great idea, make areas in dungeons have doors with locks that require different pve skills to open and make the areas un-markable so that the party will require a pve person to open the door.
make the monsters inside have more loot and make some special monsters that have special drops in there as well.
also make the doors use different skills. like blacksmithing, woodcrafting etc.. and they have to be 90 or higher to open them. That would give pve people purpose in a group or to contract their services out for hire or a share of the lewts.
or maybe require the tinkering skill because it has to do with locks. either way this would add some worth to tinkerers.
but allowing no recall in dungeons is going to be retarded, it should be no recall if you are flagged as an attacker. you can disrupt their recalls with a fireball or whatever if you’re a pvper. pve’ rs are not going to want to keep on running through a pk blockade at the enterance every time.
i would enjoy the whole you need this amount of skill to enter (similar to the magic city.. the name escapes me) but every other play style in the game would show up with pitchforks and guns to azaroth’s metaphorical house.
1.) What things will you do differently from IPY in regards to balancing play styles for pvp? (Hybrids / Tank Mages / Dexers / Tamers) I understand if you cannot go into great detail about this.
2.) I’m sure you have dissected every possible attraction when it comes to someone who wants to play on your shard. Whether they be a first time UO player or an oldschool veteran, what sorts of features will you be focusing on in order to bring more of both crowds back to play on IPY2?
That’s all!
PvE takes mostly the same skill as PvP. Except taming, but I am hoping IPY2 won’t have dragon taming because of the serious imbalance it brings to PvP. Most crafter characters don’t do too much PvE/PvP.
The only tinkers are the guys who (rightfully) think it’s hilarious when someone dies from opening a trapped box. That would make a great montage, guys getting tricked into opening trapped boxes. Get on it, assholes! Come to think of it, IPY didn’t have trapped boxes either, did it?
it did but gm tinkering but blowing 300k on ignots to gm it is only for the rich and bored.
cmon put up old ipy for us to play on til the new ipy is ready.. plz plz plz plz plz
j/k
you better be joking buddy because we dont take kinnnnnnndly to your type roun ere
Now Skeeter, he ain’t hurtin nobody…
HEY!… You dere got a perdy mouth
Wind!
Damn this shitty format.
Keuse: City was called Wind!
I’m currently on a 36 winning streak on expert(4 suits) in Spider Solitaire. I’m trying to get to 100 to prove to the world that every single match can be won!
This shard needs to come up soon or I’ll really start to feel like a loser.
Should just get League of Legends (free) if you’re that bored!
Bleh, if you’re gonna play a DotA clone, spend the 30 bucks on HoN. It’s a significantly better game.
Mmm, the good ol’ “Which is better, HoN or LoL” debate. That’ll get settled in a timely fashion here for sure.
LoL isn’t meant to be a DotA clone and since I hardly played DotA for WC3, I really don’t care for HoN. Besides, LoL is not $30. Wouldn’t hurt to try it.
DotA is the second worst PC gaming experience I’ve ever had. Number one was an impulse online purchase of NBA Live this past winter.
I still have nightmares about both.
if any of you are that bored, one of you can have my uo secondage account with 7x gm provo and a half finished pk.
Some UO would be fantastic for this summer while skewls out. I need to farm lewts immediately.
All Q – No A
yeah az, where are the answers?
or have you died choking to death via laughter listening to a kevin smith podcast :D
Answers will be coming today. I just keep getting busy with other things. Like, you know, the actual server. ;)
Chasing Amy made me a fan. The Superman Story sealed it. Kevin Smith rocks.
Plus, every movie needs more Joey Lauren Adams. So that’s a plus.
Will there be Razor or the Kirrios client?
One thing to realize is that UO was developed with 300mhz computers and 56k dial up connections. With today’s high end computers and high speed internet everything is inherently faster in UO adding in scripts is just stupid.
When I played UO:Gamers it was rediculous running into groups with scripted dumps and lightning wands. There was literally no defense against it.
Something to think about.
Lol you said Lightning Wand.
I gotta ask a question that I SWEAR is not loaded or angled with an agenda – here goes…
Why the fuck would anyone take any indie UO server seriously??? No I’m asking it legitimately, not to talk smack. I just do not understand why anyone would enjoy any of the so-called servers when there are serious questions top to bottom, from integrity to playability. I just honestly cannot understand how anyone could be so hopelessly addicted to UO that they’re willing to stick their peen in a wood-chipper for a lil UO fix. Every other server since 2004 has been difficult to enjoy. Just one mans personal opinion and I don’t want to start flinging poo about servers, just, seriously – all other servers have been like the Virtual Boy system Nintendo put out in like ’94… Difficult to play, much less enjoy, and everytime you finished a session and stood up you’d have a giant headache.
But yeah, something should be done about steroids in baseball. Or scripting in UO if.
You’re 100% right. Everytime I played UO:G it was out of boredom and my guildies were playing it again. When choosing between the lesser of 2 evils you are still choosing evil.
I would put in 2 weeks, run into the scripting/hacking/skilless children that inhabit that server and quit and go back to playing Xbox 360 lol.
I used to (and still somewhat) believe that consoles are watered down, compared to PC games (especially level of competition and modification). HOWEVER, one of the most enjoyable factors and potentially a boon in the future of gaming, is that cheating and/or hacking is almost impossible, practically non-existent. When everybody is playing on a console (online), the idea that someone is cheating never pops into your mind. This is the best thing about a homogenous system where everybody is using the exact same unmodified computer model to play together. The online servers are remote, and usually unmodifiable. Everybody plays with the same exact tools, even if those tools are not as powerful as a keyboard & mouse.
For this, I will always have respect and appreciation for consoles.
But don’t get me wrong, if there are glitches or bugs, then those are still available for players to potentially exploit… but that’s universal, so…
At least when you log on 360 Live, nobody is going to script you to death in FIFA or Gears of War.
Exactly.
I like the non waiting factor. I can just turn it on, jump in and play for 15 minutes and get off. There is no waiting for guildies to log on, re equipping or any other BS. The lack of community sucks and the majority of the people that play on Xbox Live are the sewage of the human race but I can atleast mute them.
yessir!
however you now have to face a whole league of gamers who never took to pc games and have mastered any game that they touch.
i couldnt hold a torch to a lot of people in streetfighter 4.
but i was the best ive ever seen at uncharted online when i played, so to eachtheirr own i guess.
?????????????
Forgive me if this was already posted before.
Regarding SOS and MIBs. Will this be implemented into the system?
I spent many days worth of hours doing guild Pirate Tmaps and SOS hunts in the old school IPY. I think this was a change that doesn’t effect the PVP game play, but gives unlimited fun for the guys like myself who love the guild group activites that don’t involve dungeon crawls and brit bank spamming. I remember fitting 12 or so guild mates on a large boat and enjoying hours upon hours of fun. My old guildies would agree, this is a small part of what makes UO a never ending experience that, brings me back years afterwards to play again.
I imagine SOS and Tmaps would naturally be in the game, the only issue I can see concerning them is drop rate of Vanqs, and how that relates to the usage of Vanqs in PvP or if they will end up being hoarded by people and never used.
Again only issue is drop rate pitted against actual usage.
Ohh, I don’t fully agree with that.
If they are able to be ‘hoarded’ , they will probably be quite used in PvP. if they are very rare, they are less likely to be used.. From experience. But i still prefer the later, the HIGH END stuff, like vanqs acually are, SHOULD be rare.
It also leaves the pvp ground more even, but still people got the possibility to use VANQs… On thier own risk :P
“I don’t agree with you! here let me post why I agree with you.”
Not tryin to flame, but I’m pretty sure that’s exactly what he meant. That’s drop rate in corrolation with actual usage.
You’re absolutely correct but you’re wrong.
;)
I re-read his post again, and yeah, it was indeed what he was saying. Duh :P I´ll just say, great minds think alike in that case.
Pwnt!
FTR, I agree with you.
I would like to add that it is an inaccurate assumption that players who play only to farm mibs and SoS / treasure chests do not influence pvp. Just because those players do not pvp doesn’t mean they don’t impact it, especially if they set up vendors and sell a shit ton of magic weapons in order to make money. Just because they don’t pay attention to the imbalanced item based pvp and super fast economy inflation that causes….. doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen.
Oh absolutely. You can never ever EVER trust the players to handle Economy on thier own.
Those people ‘Hoarding’ VANQs will sell them to make money, as you say.. And no way ever will they stop and think ” Nah, i won’t sell to PvPs, that causes imbalance ” ..
Ofcourse easy access to vanqs etc would damage PvP, its very hard to find the balance though.
A couple of weeks ago I totally ripped out loot and redid it like it was on IPY, with a few surprises and, ahem, nerfs. Because I’m a bad dude.
For instance, at the moment, Vanqs only drop in Deceit and Hythloth, our two hard-style dungeons.
But for the most part, loot will be just like it was on IPY, minus 20% or so (and something else I can’t discuss, but will be super evident).
So just think back, remember how that was, and bring up issues based on IPY experience.
Thanx Vanq, Screw a Blue!
Believe it!
I hope you see plenty of positives to playing red right now, because you MAY be less enthralled to see things in action.
But of course the aim is to somehow make things better for everyone. Examine problems, create solutions.
If I’m stupid, well.
Pud might just be one of my biggest fans. I find this amusing.
Well, if I were to create my own IPY, and tried to compete to wear true black clothing, that would just make me downright silly, wouldn’t it?
You’d have to be a real jerk to do that. I’d stalk you.
Hide the kids, hide the wife.
I have already hidden them for you ! ;)
Here’s a good one for the Q/A:
Would you rather
A. Have Pud.S stalking IPY for lootz
B. Have Fatduck stalking IPY for filez
or
C. Eat pieces of shit for breakfast
Those are my only options?
D. All of the above
Aw.
Has anyone ever suggested playing a UOGamers shard to you gentlemen?
Quit playin’