Martok

Quote from Coldren, I am quite happy with my video card.

Posted on FYI on UO.com Since activating Publish 12 on the Chesapeake shard in late June, we have been monitoring the shard closely, and we are targeting to release the final week of the event scenario publish to the Chesapeake shard on Tuesday, July 17th. Once it is determined that there are no unforeseen issues involving the final week of the Savage Empire scenario and Publish 12, a schedule will be set for the release of Publish 12 to the other shards. Publish 12, which includes the veteran rewards system, is our highest priority, and we hope to see it released to all shards soon. We are looking to roll out Publish 12 to all shards by late next week, but please understand that due to testing considerations and time-sensitive problems that may arise, all schedules may be subject to change. A list of the changes included in this publish can be found in Testing for the Next Update. Considering the complexities of the rewards system, we will wait until all public shards have received Publish 12 before the veteran rewards system will be activated. Once all shards are running Publish 12, and we are confident that the veteran rewards system is functioning properly, we will begin to activate veteran rewards systematically on pre-determined shards. Please note that this means that players will not be able to choose rewards immediately once the publish is received. We are working to see that this delay will be as short as possible, and we appreciate your patience.

Calandryll recently posted this on the UO.com boards. Questions to Calandryll are noted in bold text. --First, great feedback!!! --I pulled out the major points of each of your points to respond to. If I took something out of context, please correct me. "If neither outcome is worse, then there is no reason to favor a certain outcome at all -- or even participate at all. --I don't agree. Perhaps neither outcome is worse, but different players will benefit from different outcomes. For instance, let's say two outcomes in a fight for the city of Skara are: a) Skara becomes a dungeon (meaning monsters spawn there) or b) skara is saved (meaning you can bank there). For some players, the idea of a new dungeon is preferable, while to others, Skara is their home and they want it back the way it was. I'm sure I could think of a better example, given enough time. What I meant by my original statement was that outcomes where the player-base as a whole "loses" are a bad idea. Perhaps the worst outcome should come from doing nothing??" --I like that idea a lot. In fact, that is what happens now, if players don't retake the towns, they will be forever under attack. Doing nothing does result in a negative outcome until they do something. During this scenario I felt a little bit that the new content (which took the form of new items many times) was used as a crutch to help support a story that could not be fully expressed in game. --Actually, it was more that much of the story was not told on purpose. Again, think of this scenario as the opening chapter of a book. For instance, lets say that book starts out with an invasion of a town by marauding monsters. Do you (or the characters in the book) learn in the first chapter who caused that invasion? Usually not. Usually, you have to read a few more chapters before you can put the pieces together. In-game fiction didn't fit in this scenario...in the next one (the next chapter if you will), it does. "This scenario needed to be far more dynamic. There were basically three outcomes: orcs, savages, or neither." --For us to do what you propose in the first scenario would have been the absolute worst thing we could have done for a first pass. What you have listed in your second example is the result of an evolution of what we did in the first one. It is extremely easy to make that diagram, even easy to fill it in, but as you said, infinitely harder and more time consuming to design, code, balance, and test it. The fact that the first, fairly simple dynamic outcome did not go well is proof that trying to do something that complicated would have been disastrous. Too often, in our eagerness to flex our design muscles, we design above our own experience. It’s like trying to run before one has learned how to walk (to quote Tyrant). --Is it a goal to have a scenario like that? Actually, I'm not sure if they ever need to be that complicated...but even if I did, they won't be like that for quite some time until we learn more. -Jonathan "Calandryll" Hanna Designer, Ongoing Content

A messenger brings this invitation to those of the Empire Come to The Universal Festival. Hosted by Jaco Universal, Lord Beldin, and Jack Ransom. This Grand Event is The First and Last time it will ever Happen! So Don't Miss it! There will be a Gaming Area, Palm Reading, Gambling, Chicken Fights, Food, Drinks, and even a Band! Yes People this is a Once in a Life Time Chance! You ask "Is there any more activites!?!?!?!?" But Of Course! We will have Player Run Sales, Bars, Horse Racing. Food and Drinks are Available for Sale and It is First Come, First Served! We will also Have Live Shows, Even some Boxing, and that's not all We Have Much, Much MORE! First and Last Chance People! July 21st, at Noon Eastern time! At Festival Tower! Gates Will be given at All Town Banks!

The door to the tavern swung open, to allow a rotund dwarf to enter the establishment. He looked around at the patrons of the tavern, and wrinkled his nose. The tavern was well known for its shady inhabitants. Those in need of a mercenary could surely find one within these walls. The dwarf walked over to the bar, shoving several drunk warriors out of his way. They were about to protest, but saw the large battle axe upon the dwarfs back, and decided against it. The dwarf yelled at the barkeep for an ale, and quickly guzzled down the liquid. He winced at the taste, for it was of poor quality. “Nothing like the ale of the mountain dwarf taverns.” he thought to himself silently as he looked through the bottom of the mug. A log in the fireplace crackled, shooting sparks through the air behind the dwarf. The dwarf turned his head to glance upon the warm and inviting fire, and saw what he thought was a set of red eyes perched in the shadows beside the fireplace. The dwarf looked to the set of eyes, and nodded his head in silent communication. Casually, the dwarf ordered another ale, and proceeded to the table set back beside the fireplace, hidden in a shroud of darkness. As the dwarf approached the table, he could see the man sitting against the wall. His figure blended in with the shadows, only the fiery gaze from his eyes gave away his presence. The dwarf sat down, and began to speak. “The price of eggs is rather high in Sullust,” remarked the dwarf. His eyes did not look up, but concentrated on the mug of ale in his hand. “Yet the price of chickens remains low,” remarked the shadowy figure. His deep voice startled the dwarf. Yet, the correct words were spoken, there was the man he was to meet. Their previous communications were made through a third party, a mercenary of rather low esteem. This was their first face to face encounter. The large woman on the makeshift stage began to sing, unfortunately, she was the only entertainment for the evening. Her shrill voice mangled the words of her song. Several of the patrons threw bits of their meal towards her, showing their obvious displeasure at hearing her voice. “Have you completed your task?” asked the dark man. The darkness clung to him as a cloak, concealing his appearance from everyone in the tavern but the dwarf. The dwarf’s face grew red with rage upon the question. “If I hadn’t completed the task,” thought the dwarf, “would I have come?” he thought silently to himself. He was about to speak his thoughts out loud, but thought better of it. The shadowy man frightened him greatly. “I have. Just as you had requested,” replied the dwarf with extreme calmness and caution. His eyes lifted from his mug to meet the gaze of the dark man’s. His hand patted the scroll case at his belt. It had taken him months to compile all the information written on the parchment: the names of all the tribal leaders of the orcs, their locations, their titles, their responsibilities. The dwarf had started out with six members of his mercenary team. Only he had survived. The orcs brutally murdered his associates that were caught. The price for the information was heavy. The reward he was to gain in return seemed hardly worth his efforts. The man in the darkness held out his hand, without speaking, the dwarf removed the scroll from the case upon his belt, and handed it over to the dark man. He unrolled the scroll, and gazed over its contents. A faint smile appeared on his lips. This was the final bit of information he needed. This scroll, combined with the maps he had acquired from the late warriors outside the orc camp was to be used for intricate planning; the planning of an all out assault on the orcs. The dark man removed a small leather pouch from his belt, and handed it to the dwarf. “I have heard of your comrades early departure to the abyss,” stated he stated. “I grieve for your loss. I have added a bit extra for your troubles,” continued the man. The dwarf looked inside the pouch, and found triple the amount of gold that had been agreed upon. His stomach began to knot. His friends were dead, and it seemed as if he was being paid for their untimely demise. He closed the pouch, and fastened it to his belt. Without any further conversation, the dwarf rose from the table, finished off the remainder of ale in his mug, and began to walk towards the door. He was finished as a mercenary. He had experienced more death in his lifetime, then a dozen men should have. He had made up his mind; he would go back to being a blacksmith, a more respectable trade for one of his heritage. As the dwarf exited the tavern, three warriors emerged from the shadows to stand directly in the dwarf’s path. “You have something that needs to be returned,” stated one of the warriors. Their curved swords gleamed in the moonlight “What might that be?” questioned the dwarf as he drew his battle-axe from his back. He knew what they were looking for: the scroll he had given to the man in black. “The orcs must have sent them,” thought the dwarf. Off in the distance, as if to confirm his thoughts, stood two orc shaman. The dwarf took a wide swing with his battle-axe towards the mercenaries. The three warriors jumped clear of its path, save for one of them who left his foot within the axe’s reach. His foot separated from his leg, and the warrior fell to the ground with a shriek. The dwarf spun around, and gave his axe another swing towards the other two warriors. His axe managed to find a target once again, this time, directly in the midsection of one of his would-be attackers. The warrior managed to slash at the dwarf with his sword as he fell to the ground. The dwarf groaned in pain. The wound was not serious, but gave him extreme pain. The remaining warrior ran off, leaving his two comrades behind. He did not want to suffer their fate. The dwarf thought of chasing down the remaining attacker, but clutched his bleeding shoulder instead. The dwarf disappeared down the dark dirt road. The dark man exited the tavern, and looked down at the two maimed warriors just outside the tavern steps. He looked around for the dwarf, but failed to find him. The man turned the corner of the tavern, and found the dwarf on the ground, frothing at the mouth. The dark man bent down, and gazed upon the dwarf. The dwarf attempted to talk, but only a few unrecognizable gurgles came from his mouth. The man in black knelt down, and moved his ear close to the dwarf’s mouth, in an attempt to hear him better. “Poison,” the dwarf gurgled. “Sent by the orcs,” he struggled to whisper. “Two Shaman, in the distance......too late.....,” he managed to say. The foam continued to flow from his mouth. The man opened a pouch at his belt, and withdrew a small vial. Before he could lift the vial to the dwarf’s lips, he was dead. The dark figure sighed. The orcs must know his plans. There was no longer any time for reconnaissance. He had to return and tell his comrades, they had to prepare for the atttack. As he finished his thought, the dark man made runic symbols in the air above the dwarf’s corpse. The corpse began to glow with a white light, then disappeared. Many men died to bring the information the dark man now held, but many more would die when the war started. With another wave of the man’s hand, his figure began to shift and contort. Within seconds, the dark man was no more, replaced by what appeared to be a raven. Several town guards ran down the road in front of the tavern, searching for the cause of the commotion. When they arrived, only two corpses of the mercenaries remained; and a raven perched upon the sign of the tavern.

*looks to Kalinaf* I have yet ventured to this area....I hope you all have some runes for me to use!

I used to play Diablo all the time. I uninstalled it a while back and now I lost my cd. Prom is yelling at me on a daily basis to get my lazy butt out and buy it with the expansion. *chuckles*

One minute, I am a god of peace and goodness, the next, a god of destruction and pestilence. How the??? Oh well, its much more entertaining to have my pet eat villagers that stray. Whats that you say? Need more housing?? I can solve that problem!! *instructs creature to eat excess population*

Aye, it will be a welcomed change! I won't know what to do when I am able to actually find some reagents!!!!

According to UO Stratics, patch 12 is currently up and running on the Chesapeake shard. Also according to Stratics, patch 12 includes an addition of exactly what type of murder count you have! It will tell you what your short, long, and ping-pong counts are by saying: I must consider my sins. Posts on the UO.com boards also speak of an increase in the reagent spawn as well. Rumor has it that the npc reagent vendors have had their spawn rates increased! You can now expect to see anywhere from 400-999 of each reg spawning every fifteen minutes!!

Great storyline!!

A dark hooded messenger brought this to me at Olympus. The messenger would not speak, but dropped off this parchment: The Dark Monarchy, Kingdom of Demorium is opening their new tavern called the Queens Poison. The grand opening is Friday July 13th at 9 pm est time on the Catskills shard,Trammel. Runes to the tavern will be given out at Lord Blackthorns castle from 6-7 pm est. Gates will be made available by request at icq number 12372364. The tavern is for all people good or evil. Private dining reservations will be taken in advance. The Queen's Chef Otik will prepare fresh food daily. Wheter ye wish a fine dining experience,or to sit in our library and quietly read ,browse the copies of books available for sell in our bookstore, or just relax with a jug of wine in front of the fire with family and friends, The Queens Poison is the place to be.

Calandryll brings this to us from the uo.com boards. Here is what he has to say: Will they continue the weekly updates in the form of another ongoing 'quest' (I use the term loosley)? --I wouldn't use the term "quest" at all actually. But yes, we're planning on doing another one after this one conclues. If so, what type of 'quest' will it be? --Different than this one based on the learning we have gotten from this one. Beyond that, no comment as I will not give anything away. What would everyone like to see? What were the major problems with the current one (besides the obvious!)? --Good questions. I actually think it might be better to wait until this one concludes though. I plan on writing a post about the current scenario after this one concludes and gathering feedback from that as well. To answer your questions about dynamic changes to the world such as destroying a city. Doing something like that, while it may sound cool on paper, so may not be appropriate for UO. Let's forget about the programming issues with this (of which there are many) and discuss the design/community issues. If you have been reading the posts about this scenario since it's beginning, there have been more than a few posts of complaint towards the town attacks. They were (are) angry about not being able to bank/hang-out in their favorite town. Imgaine, if you will, if we not only attacked a town, but actually destroyed it! People have become very attached to the cities in UO. Another example, I had an idea a long time ago to make a scenario where reagents became scarce and players had to solve a scenario to solve the problem. Imagine the howls of anger from the mages should the players lose that scenario and regs remained harder to get than they already are? While you may not agree with that mentality, as a developer, I am beholden to all players and must take it into account. The problem with win/lose outcomes is that as a general rule, people don't like to lose. A lose scenario such as the ones you describe are not fun if the players' lose. Losing isn't fun. Rather than have a win/lose outcome, I'd prefer to have different outcomes, neither necessarily worse, just different, and all interesting and fun. But that sort of thing is far more difficult to design (again, not talking programming issues here) than a simple win/lose scenario. In truth, in my opinion, lose/win scenarios are rather uncreative as anyone can come up with "if the players lose, Minoc blows up, if they win it doesn't". It takes far more creativity to come up with two outcomes that are meaningful, but also equally fun. Truth is we are not at that point yet. We need to move these along gradually. The biggest mistake developers make in my opinion with MMORPGs is we try to run before we learn to walk. We have so many cool ideas we just want to get them started right away. But, in the long-run (and with these games, the long-run must be considered) moving slowly, learning from the feedback, and expandind as we go along, is the far better course. Oh and just a sidenote, you made an excellent post with some really well thought out ideas. Lose the profanity (and yes, even using "*"s can be considered a ToS violation on the boards) next time as I would hate to see a good post get locked (as this one would be justifably locked if it was) because of unneeded curse words that didn't add to your post anyway. -Jonathan "Calandryll" Hanna Designer, Ongoing Content

Posted by Adrick on the UO.com boards "The argument could be made back at the time precasting was removed that it could be used to pk and was a mystery to those who did not understand how to do it. As it stands today given the tram fel ruleset and various other avenues for consensual pvp - precasting if restored to the game would effect pvpers - those who want no part of precasting and pvp have the means now to avoid it altogether. A vast majority of the posts, emails and general conversation in the pvp community is that restoring precasting to the game would make pvp more fun for them, more of a matter of player skill in who wins a fight. The concern for us going into this is to ensure that characters with no magery can be competitive in pvp. The insta hit will not be returning which was one of the obvious unbalancing features of the old style. The introduction of special moves, lumberjacking along with anatomy healing and med, swing timers with hit times based on dex have added more choices that will not be available the same to a mage/warrior as before when precasting was removed. So we are looking at the feedback - and we are discussing what the end result will be when the combat changes listed in concept are finally published to all the shards"

Hurry up already!!!!

Goodbye old boards! Hello new boards!!!

Why thank ye! I have tried hard to put some fat on me skinny old bones! *orders another lamb chop*

*yells from the other side of the tavern* Do ye nay recognize me!? Eh? Tis Martok! *a big smile crosses his face*

Aye...made one and used one! Very time consuming to get the bola balls for that!

HOWDY ALL!