Five on Friday - September 18, 2009
Note: This Five on Friday was posted by Robert Mull, EA Mythic Community Relations Director, instead of the usual Chrissay Zeeman, Ultima Online Community Coordinator. Additionally, one question's answer is unattributed and runs into an inadvertanty asked bonus question and answer regarding edged Throwing weapons with cutting hides and wool.
Are we EVER going to get the guard zones back in faction towns? On Siege one can't do escorts unless you can gate (only one escort town has a moongate). You have made half our towns unusable removing access to heartwood, community collections, and 60% of our gateable stables. Ten months is far too long to mess up Siege like this.
Yes, I would expect this to return as part of the Live development cycle (hey look! I got to say it twice!)
-Draconi
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When will the spring cleaning point rewards end? Will we be given notice first?? Will it run again so those that were unable to get all the armor pieces still be able to?
Hmm, we don’t really have any plans to just turn off the reward givers anytime soon. Should we?
-Draconi
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With the release of SA, there will obviously be new events to participate in. With that in mind, are there plans to improve things technically to reduce the uber-lag that always goes hand in hand with the events?
You know, this is something I think we can do by more carefully structuring events.
I think many will remember the Trial of Ricardo being almost completely lag free, even with 100+ people gathered in the same room. We had written very specific control scripts to keep things calm, which massively reduced screen refreshes and network traffic. Compare that to the Mad Mage event, where there were over 400+ on screen at a time, which actually activated the dormant telestorming code. *I* got telestormed while I was trying to activate the code word to turn it on!
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Please can doubleclicking a throwing weapon for hide and pile of wool.
Wow, that makes total sense, especially since they’re edged!
-Draconi
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I got Stygian Abyss and after using the promotional code I have recieved amongst other things "a vollem held in crystal." Without wasting this one time use, what does it do please?
Ah! This is your special gargoyle pet, a Vollem. This pet insta-bonds to you once you release it from the crystal, and otherwise acts like a normal pet. The reason this is special is that the only other way to obtain Vollems in the game is to complete the Sutek mini-quests and craft a golem version (which has to be repaired, and can’t be bonded).
-Draconi
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I've noticed that 75 Imbuing is required to build a soul forge. How are mule characters supposed to get to a soul forge to gain in Imbuing if the only entrance to Ter Mur is through a dungeon? It seems to be a very difficult trek for a character with no battle skills. Will it be possible to purchase soul forges from an "emissary" npc somewhere in Trammel or Malas?
I think we’re just going to change this to be a bit more reasonable.
-Draconi
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