Five on Friday - January 19, 2007

This FoF has a new item in it - the first batch of announcements from UO fansites, as per our revamped fansite policy. Enjoy!

"I found HAX! Givez me L00TZ0RS!"
(Note: Not a quote from an actual player. Thankfully.)

So, last week's announcement of our new dupe/exploit reward program led to quite a few bugs in my box when I got in on Tuesday - my deepest thanks to everyone who sent in emails. But it pointed out the need for a bit of clarification.

Please do not expect a response to these emails. If you send in a dupe, we need to reproduce it, fix it, test the fix, and publish the fix before we can confirm it to anyone. This may take quite a while, depending on the complexity of the issue. While I would love to send a hand-crafted thank-you note to everyone who submits, that would prevent me from actually having the time to READ all the responses, and all in all, I suspect you'd rather I read them all then respond to some of them. Rest assured that we will find you to reward you if we need to.

We need to be able to reproduce the bug based on your report. I talked to Mesanna in QA, who cheerfully gave me a list of items that would help her nail down the issue you're describing:

Character Name:
Shard:
Client 2d or 3d:
Description:
Steps: (Be as specific as possible, and feel free to include things you think may not be relevant. They often are.)
What 3rd party programs were used?:
Specific script used:

Spelling, grammar, and general clarity of writing work wonders. :) Also, we'll never turn down screenshots.

Remember, the process is to send in a bug report to uobugs@uo.com with all the information, and an email to me (edalberg@ea.com, with the header DUPE). Please send emails to BOTH addresses - it just delays us when we have to figure out where a particular bug has gone.

""On a normal monster, only the top attacker gets looting rights. " This statement is incorrect."
The second half of Item #1 in last week's FoF is in fact incorrect (which is entirely my fault, not Wilki's.) Here is more info on how looting rights are determined:

If the max hp of the creature is:
- less than 200 hp: you have to do at least 1/2 of the top attacker's damage to get looting rights.
- between 200 and 1000 hp: you have to do at least 1/4 of the top attacker's damage to get looting rights.
- between 1000 and 3000 hp: you have to do at least 1/8 of the top attacker's damage to get looting rights.
- 3000 or more hp: you have to do at least 1/16 of the top attacker's damage to get looting rights.

The person who does the first blow gets their damage multiplied by 125% for the purposes of calculating looting rights

First and last blows are also used in calculating a tiebreaker, but as you'd have to do EXACTLY the same amount of damage, ties would be rare.

Now, this (and the rest of that FoF) is only about loot found on corpses. It does NOT apply to artifacts, power scrolls, Treasures of Tokuno, or any other loot that appears in your backpack rather than on the corpse. Those items are governed by totally separate code.

(In another, separate addition to last week's info, there is NO cap on luck (other than the total possible from items spawning in the world)

"Could you please tell us more about the "separate code"?"
Since we're on a roll with loot and looting, let's do it right :) (This is again the work of the code-scouring Wilki):

Powerscrolls:

If you get looting rights to a champion spawn boss corpse, you have a random chance to get a powerscroll. This is completely random, and luck or damage amount does not affect who is chosen. If there are more powerscrolls given out than players who have looting rights, you have a chance to get more than one.

Powerscroll type chance:
80% chance to get a 110 powerscroll
15% chance to get a 115 powerscroll
5% chance to get a 120 powerscroll

The specific skill for the powerscroll is also completely random.

Doom Artifacts:

When a doom boss dies, there is a chance for an artifact to be created. This chance depends on which doom boss was defeated.

The Dark Father has a 1 in 20 chance
Other Doom Boss Monsters have a 1 in 300 chance

The 1 in X chance is influenced by the luck value of the top attacker only. That player's luck is used as follows:

Take the square root of the luck value.
Multiply that by the chance value (either 20 or 300)
Divide by 100
Subtract this value from the original chance

That value is the new 1 in X chance of spawning an artifact.

Example: the top attacker against the Dark Father has a luck value of 900.

The square root of 900 = 30
30 x 20 = 600
600/100 = 6
20 - 6 = 14

The chance for an artifact to be created is thus 1 in 14.

The artifact then goes to a random player that has looting rights to the boss monster corpse. This is completely random, and luck or damage amount does not affect who is chosen. The type of artifact created is also completely random.

(Treasures of Tokuno uses a different system, but since it's not currently live and may well be changed if/when it ever goes live again, it would only add to the confusion to document it now)

"insert several excellent questions about Town Halls in general here"
I was going to actually pick out a question from some of the threads about it, and decided it'd be simpler to just roll everything into one:

"When are you coming to my town?" - The list is posted! Some specifics are still TBD, but I'll update those as I get them.

"Can I take pictures/video/audio of the gathering?" - This is from my overlord Sanya: "You may record anything you like at the gathering and broadcast it to the universe. This goes for all gatherings with public rooms. Should there be a gathering where we have smaller break out sessions, you should ask the moderator of the panel or the presenter for specific permission. But any "general sessions" may be recorded with my blessing." Any exceptions to this general rule will, if possible, be posted beforehand.

"Do we need to RSVP" - Yes, please do - it allows us to get an idea of how many people to prepare for.

"Should I get a confirmation of my RSVP?" - No, not generally - we use the numbers to make sure we're ordering the right number of nachos, but we won't be checking names at the door. Again, if a particular gathering has different rules, we'll make sure to let you know.

"Who will be at these?" - Barring unusual accidents, either myself or Sanya (or both) will be at all the gatherings. Various other social folks from the team may be joining us too - but the primary purpose of these events will be to get UO players together so we can all get to know one another.

"insert many excellent questions about the Book of Truth event"
This is a pretty complex event, and explaining it fictionally, while fun, doesn't hit all the high points. Here are several details that will help you in recovering the stolen Book of Truth:

"Where do the books drop?" - the books drop from various creatures in all of the Dungeons of Anti-Virtue in Britannia.

"Do I need to have the quest to get a book?" - No. The books will drop whether or not you have one of the Lycaeum quests - feel free to dispose of them as you wish.

"What creatures drop the most books?" - More powerful creatures are far more likely to have acquired one of the books than less powerful creatures. Also, creatures in the harsher facet of Felucca are more likely to have the skill and cleverness to keep these valuable items.

"Why are slimes dispelling my Energy Vortexes?" - As hinted at in the current new broadcast by Leurocian Malnagrane, High Archmage and Traveling Bard, it appears that when the slaying magic came in contact with the real Book of Truth and the blackrock in Goran Zarlov's possession, that a blast of nether energy caused a magical reaction in the creatures that inhabit the Dungeons of Anti-Virtue.

"Are the books blessed?" - Contact with nether energy has negated any blessing that may have been on the books, rendering them susceptible to loss and theft.

"Powder of Fortification doesn't work on the quest reward sword. Is it bugged?" - No. However, if you care for your weapon and ensure that it is repaired by a high-level smith, it will remain functional for a long time.

"Is this event going to be the only way to get these special reward items?" - No. We will allow you to get the rewards in other ways in the future.

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And now, announcements from our friends and neigbors in the UO world:

From the venerable player community of Paxlair - today is a very special day.

"Chesapeake's player-community called PaxLair going strong after 9 continuous years! It is entering its Age of Enlightenment.

What started out as a small group of buildings on January 19, 1998 on Felucca, Chesapeake, has grown into one of Ultima Online's largest player-town communities. After 9 years, PaxLair just formed a player-statehood of 5 separate but connected player-towns on nearly every facet.

The player-towns, called player-cities, each has its own mayor, chancellors, and citizenry. The unifying "statehood" is led by a player-governor and ministers. These cities are: Dragons Watch (Felucca), PaxLair City (Felucca), PaxLane (Trammel), PaxOku (Tokuno), and Port Baldmor (Trammel). Each city is unique and distinct in its theme and focus, catering to people of all play-styles--from PvP to quests, adventures, and commerce. Role-playing is the underlying theme for all the cities. This is simply because PaxLair works very hard to help players go several steps beyond the game mechanics into realistic and thought-provoking in-game situations.

Along this path, PaxLair is starting an "Age of Enlightenment" for the next 6 months for everyone wishing to participate. The basic concept is "total in-game immersion" -- thinking and reacting to in-game situations, encounters, and other characters from the character's point of view. This Age is planned to include player-quests, trials, in-depth adventures, small and large scale PvP warfare, help to young people, pub crawls, theatrical plays, and much more.

For more information about PaxLair, its cities, and involvement on the Chesapeake Shard (and with player towns on other shards too!), visit www.paxlair.com.

The Fishing Council of Britannia has this to say:

Fishers of Sosaria Unite!

The Fishing Council of Britannia (FCB) is the ONLY cross-shard fishing guild. We accept applications for crew at our website www.thefcb.com where you can always find information on fishing and make friends for discussing fishing and the seas. We host shard events as well as share information for sea-farers. If there is not a crew active on your shard, you can apply to be our next Captain to get things going. We are fun-loving and foul-smelling! Fishing's More Fun with Friends!

And UOForums has, by dint of diligent effort, secured an interview with designer Draconi - check it out here!

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If you're counting, I believe that was around fifteen separate questions. *wipes sweat off brow* Time for me to go unwind... probably in Destard. ;)

- Jeremy