Ultima Online Storm Chat 14
Date: November 4, 2004
Topic: Samurai Empires
Moderated by: TrinityX
TrinityX - Hello Ladies and Gents! And welcome to Ianstorms 14th UOStormchat!
TrinityX - This chat will be moderated, but general discussion may continue in #ultima-online.
TrinityX - To submit a question, please /msg one of our questions takers. Our question takers tonight, will be Pittminion, Meatball,and MacGuffin.
TrinityX - They are easily recognizable by the [IS] in front of their names
TrinityX - Also, please do not message myself, or anyone from EA:Origin, anything sent, will be ignored!
TrinityX - Tonights topic will be General Discussion, any inappropriate question, will be ignored.
TrinityX - We will also be accepting questions about the new expansion, Samurai Empires
TrinityX - So get to sending in those questions!
TrinityX - *[DJ]psycho* There are many people who only play UO to PvP, apparantly theres already some PvP-balance issues with UO:SE(nerve strike being one), will these get fixed in pub28(or asap) and what about the old ones a dev requested a list for a month ago? Thanks
Oaks - Because PVP issues affect people more directly than PVM (except in some extreme cases), they will definitely be getting more attention than just about anything else.
Oaks - We are watching the boards and players closely for these unbalances.
TrinityX - *Cooper* Are there plans to increase the difficulty of monsters further to make PvM even more challenging?
Leurocian - Yes. The Live Team have talked about improving monster AI.
Leurocian - And we have some things in mind such as allowing - for example - liches to cast necromancer type spells and such
Leurocian - No promises for that, but that is a possibility for a future publish
TrinityX - *Hemisphere* Will we ever see ladders, and customizable stairs (Similar to the way rooves are customizable now), along with the other nescessary fixed to the house tool (Poorly aligned tiles, missing tiles from the roof tilesets etc)
Ferbert - I'm not sure if we'll include ladders or customizable stairs, though they're frequently requested, and would certainly increase the available customization options. I have a fix for some poorly aligned tiles going into Publish 28, and I'll have a look into missing roof tiles for a future publish.
TrinityX - *docma* there are some lag spots in the game such as juka castle in ilshenar, outside delucia, east ice dungeon and most t2a areas. even there is nobody there and in other places i can run smoothly. will devteam investigate this?
OSI_speedman - Prior to the launch of UO:SE we did a big load test on the servers and optimized a bunch of code to make the game run smoother with more players
OSI_speedman - But lag in these spots is probably due to connection speed vs. the number of monsters and items in the area
OSI_speedman - Most of the bandwidth usage is much better now than it has been in the past, and with optimization our work is never done
OSI_speedman - So we can possibly look into more bandwidth optimization for a future publish, but that remains to be seen
TrinityX - *DJAce* Will old guild titles be added to UO:SE as Hanse and Mr Tact said?
Oaks - We are changing the restrictions to guild titles so they are at least as forgiving as they were before the big guild changes (concerning allowed characters and string length)...
TrinityX - *SirRobert[Atlantic]* Are there any plans to make being a cook more useful. Currently people dont really eat anymore in game. So maybe letting a GM or Legendary cook customize a cake with a greeting or something like that? what they've accomplished?
Leurocian - Yes. Cooking is one of the skills that we're planning on looking into enhancements for. We're currently evaluating enhancements to crafting as well.
TrinityX - Folks, a slight update, you can also send questions to Ouch, recognized in here as [IS]Ouch. And please remember to NOT send questions to myself, or anyone from EA:ORIGIN
TrinityX - *Deimos_UOF* Hi, my question is "Is there any hints at what's next in UO's future after UO:SE? What will the dev team be working on next? Thanks!"
OSI_speedman - Well, as much as we like to hint... there aren't any hints tonight.
OSI_speedman - We're working on... stuff
OSI_speedman - there's your hint :)
TrinityX - *Gwenhwyfar* Is the "Guild Members" access for secure container working yet? It wasn't working and it supposed to be fixed with the Publish on last 1st and 2nd November. It still not working now.
OSI_speedman - I believe the fix has infact been published to the shards
OSI_speedman - There is still a small issue where a house owner with ronin status in the guild cannot access his own secures unless he changes their security to something other than Guild
TrinityX - *Shadow Seer* when will wand delay and mount delays will be here?
Leurocian - Pub 28 for the mount delays. Tentatively considering adding a spellcasting delay for wands in pub 29, but this is not a promise. We're in the process of feature-locking publish 29.
Leurocian - So stay tuned :)
TrinityX - *JCtheBuilder* Is there anything hidden in UOSE which players do not know about yet? For instance with Malas there was the pouches to the secret areas.
OSI_speedman - Hidden stuff? Of course there's hidden stuff!
OSI_speedman - But will we tell you about it here tonight? Nope! :)
TrinityX - *SirRobert[Atlantic]* I heard in SE the old placeholders (paperdoll and gameview wise) for dragonscale armor, fur boots, formal shirt, flower garlands and so on are still used. Is there a plan to finally give us 2D users those items as they should be?
Niobe - These wearable items were not updated in SE...
Niobe - So they will still appear as they did prior to the release of the expansion.
Niobe - As much as we'd like to see updates to these items, I am not aware of plans to update these pieces at this time.
TrinityX - *LBeth* Will there be Christmas gifts this year and if so will they be different from last year?
Leurocian - Aye! Indeed there will be! But only if you've been naughty...er I mean nice. :)
Ferbert - And yes, they will be different from last year's gifts, though they will arrive in one of those snappy gift boxes. I still wonder how a full-sized *mumble* fits in that box though.
Leurocian - I was wondering the same thing...
TrinityX - *Istanbul* Question: Does the champion spawn in Tokuno have a item reward, like in Fel, or not like in Ilshnear?
Oaks - The greatest reward (at the moment) are the highly magical Tokuno-only weapons and armor. We are trying to squeeze some cool stuff into one of the publishes for the new champion on the block. =)
Leurocian - Maybe I can talk Oaks into assisting with some minor artifacts or something ;)
Oaks - Wind's Edge anyone? Well... you just wait and see.
TrinityX - *Rindel* Ok now that the PS2 and xbox are online will a version ever be out for these consoles since the consoles can use keyboards
MrTact - We are constantly evaluating when will be the right time for us to think about UO on a console.
MrTact - However, I can say with some certainty that that time is not now . . .
TrinityX - *JCtheBuilder* Will there ever be a way to lockdown spell icons on the desktop? I constantly accidently delete them and it is a pain to figure out which one it was. It would be nice if we could "lock" them into positions, along with backpack, paperdoll, etc.
MrTact - As far as I know we have never discussed such a thing.
MrTact - But it's a great idea!
TrinityX - *techarin* Currently champ spawn in Tokuno and Ilsh is incredibly fast. Is the spawn rate still being tweaked or will it remain at it's current rate?
Niobe - We're going to keep a watch on the new Champion Spawn, along with other new items introduced with UOSE, and tweak if and where necessary.
Niobe - If you feel the spawn is too slow, too fast or just right, let us know. We've been watching feedback quite a bit.
TrinityX - *Cooper* The reveal changes aren't working the way you said they would. When are you going to fix them, and will you make any changes to them?
OSI_speedman - There was definitely a problem with monsters using detect hidden skill
OSI_speedman - We've fixed some bugs with it for publish 28, and tweaked the formula to make it less likely for monsters to be able to reveal you
OSI_speedman - based on your hiding, stealth or magery skills
OSI_speedman - they won't be able to detect you through walls now
TrinityX - *Cooper* There seems to be a more restrictive filter in place for guild names. Names like "Master Archer, Supreme Mage, etc" are no longer valid. Was this done on purpose?
MrTact - Yes the filtering stuff was rewritten as part of the guilds revamp, and there's definitely some weird behavior.
MrTact - We will most likely have a look at that in a publish coming soon, since our QA director is one of the people that got bit by it :-)
TrinityX - *JCtheBuilder* What is the time frame for publish 28? It has some rather important fixes and a lot of people are looking forward to it.
Ferbert - We realize how important the fixes are so we're working on getting it published as soon after launch as is practical. I can't be more specific yet, but the publish is by-and-large ready for final QA right now, so unless something major needs to be added to it, you will see it closer to Thanksgiving than Christmas.
TrinityX - *Draconi* Now that you've got the game rolled out, how does everyone feel about
Binky_EA - I would like to say that I feel this development team has pulled together and made an outstanding product. I am proud to work with each and every one of them on a daily basis. I am sad and do apologize personally for the issues some of you are seeing at our retail partners with the Soulstone and the shipping issues with the EA Store. We are working with them to help educate and improve these processes as we move forward. But mostly I hope that these issue
* TrinityX adds in a note, she sucks with copy/paste, and that entire question should of been "*Draconi* Now that you've got the game rolled out, how does everyone feel about what they've accomplished?"
Leurocian - I have to say I'm very proud of SE as well, and I'm looking forward to going home and playing in Tokuno tonight :)
Oaks - It's... over? You mean, I'm allowed to go home now? I can go home! And maybe even get my Hiryu...
MrTact - Sleep is good. We like sleep. What?
TrinityX - Oaks, going in for the early kill
OSI_speedman - Sleep? What? You must be old
Leurocian - Hey, Elyssar named her first Hiryu after me. That was way cool!
Binky_EA - sorry...."But mostly I hope that these issues don’t overshadow what a tremendous job this development team has done."
MrTact - "Overshadow" -- was that a pun?
* Fertbert integrates UO:SE into Live
Leurocian - So don't kill her Hiryu!
Ferbert - It's mine, all mine, muahahahaha!
OSI_speedman - We're all very proud of UO:SE
Saralah - sleep shmeep, can we eat yet?
wilki_EA - And I would like to say that as a long time UO player, I think this expansion rocks, end of story. Like Leurocian, I'm going home to get in some personal UO time myself.
wilki_EA - Right after I wail on my guitar a bit, that is.
OSI_speedman - Same here
OSI_speedman - except the guitar :P
Leurocian - You play guitar too wilki? Cool!
EvilMantis - I'm still waiting to get unchained from my desk so I can go home and play SE
TrinityX - And as these guys so eagerly put it, That ends Ianstorms 14th UO Storm chat!!
wilki_EA - Air Guitar!
Ferbert - I was thrilled to see folks able to run around pretty well lag-free on launch day. Was a very satisfying moment.
OSI_speedman - Goodnight everyone and thanks for coming!
Leurocian - Harmonizes rifts with wilki in minor thirds
Leurocian - Good night all!
Ferbert - Bye everyone!
EvilMantis - Night all
Saralah - TTFN!
wilki_EA - Good night everyone! Thanks for coming!
Binky_EA - Goodnight all! Episode 4 is posted on uo.com/uose
TrinityX - Thanks to everyone that joined us tonight, and a special thanks to Wilki, Binky, Oaks, MrTact, Saralah, Niobe, Leurocian and Fertbert for joining us tonight!
Oaks - No... thank YOU!
Niobe - Thanks all!
TrinityX - Logs will be posted at http://www.ianstorm.com/ultima/uosc, so keep your eyes peeled for it!
TrinityX - If you wish to continue talking to other UO Players, please type in /join #ultima-online
TrinityX - Thanks for coming everyone!!!