Poll: Direction of the Shard

[Blackrock]

T2A is more than "mechanics". Its also about "look and feel" and "economics".


Let's say BODs are added, which are one of the worst features in the history of UO, in my humble opinion. You add BODs. However, filling BODs are hollow, since there is no reward greater than simply selling the goods. So BODs will need to have some "greater reward", and thus reintroduces runics. Runics brings up the question of having special magical weapons and armors. Oh, and let's not forget all the wonderful neon rewards. Neon was a great addition tot he game. Lots of sarcasm.


Cut it at the shaft and never, ever, ever introduce BODs. Crafting should be about keeping your players armed. Is that part of the game stagnating? Then people aren't dying enough. That is a key part of T2A, death. I look on the player list here on the website, and I see 50 people, all the time, with 0 kills. That in itself is not T2A.


No wonder this is even an arguement.

[orbit]

I wouldn't mind some custom content. I agree that mechanics should stay the same, but some additional content (seeing as this server has lots of PvMers at the moment) could be nice.


Maybe placing some boss monsters with a rare chance to spawn, in their assoicated dungeons. Ancient/Black lich in Deciet or other similar things. I noticed that the spawning this server implements (stratics data from wayback machine) includes a while list of era accurate "Unique Creatures" Perhaps they could be used as the boss monsters.



Perhaps the rare spawning boss monster happens to drop an even rarer drop!



With that being said, I do feel that the majority of things should stay T2A. BODs and other UOR era stuff should definitely stay away. I also changed my mind about the moongate thing, I see Blackrocks point about them.

[yakka]

Well the items I listed out are just things that folks who came and went and a few that are just refreshinghad discussed I'mnot advocating for change. The only talk on Bods rewards was simply different hue cloth no neons and some house deco stuff was all that was even being considered. No runics or cbds or anything that would throw the economy all out of whack. The lack of kills comes mostly from small population that keeps coming and going. We get the occasional pk to wander through and I am hopeful that with the events and tourneys in place more pvp type players will land and stick. We have a couple orcs that are here now building and a couple other groups that just joined up so I think more sustained action in killing and pvp will grow. Already in thelast week a lot more people in events which makes me happy.Like I said I am happy as is but not opposed to things mentioned in moderation if it helps grow the shard. Pvm people canbecome pvp enthusiasts I know I am one lol. Ultimately it is up to Jack to do what he wants and feels is best to keep himself interested.

[Penumb]

Agree with yakka here. Also am interested in the pvp type. Still getting back to razor after many many years. It's tough, but hoping this shard is my home for a few years here. Blackrock brings some valid points, particularly with crafting. The economy is important. And I believe if Jack works on keeping the economy in check, and the tournaments fun, I'm staying.I think Blackrock will agree here. Also,T2a is not 100% pvp, but it is part of the equation, which is why I hope all of us are here. Don't get rid of platinum, it's fun saving up for that black dye tub, or whatnot. Cheers.

[Jack]

With all honesty here, a different implementation of BODs have been considered, they have been an idea I've been toying with for a while before any of this went down. However rewards from them would be very non-game affecting things. Rares and such, we will most certainly never have anything like runics, powerscrolls, etc, that came with the OSI implementation of BODs.


Why are BODs being considered? Because they are just another way to extend longevity of player interest. There are people who play this game that don't do anything but craft. On a shard where probably less than 20 murders have taken place in 6 months, there is not a huge amount of crafting turnover to keep crafters constantly supplying for customers. Tailoring is almost useless. Leather wouldn't be useful even if a GM suit gave 25 armor, since the meditation penalty for wearing leather is huge and anyone wearing armor may as well wear chain at the least.BODs are a way to give crafters a bit more to do. I'd argue that they do not affect anyone who chooses not to do them.


No matter what I do, there are going to be people who don't like my choices. And I guess that's something to live with.


I'm happy to give players a choice on the crafting menu, based on the fact that it seems to be overwhelmingly disliked. I'm happy to give the public moongate an implementation that is not quite as frustrating, while keeping the era feel (cycle times that don't take 10+ minutes to get where you want to go). I think maybe reverting bandage cutting was a bit hasty. I don't think it's a big deal to have to macro cutting some bandages every now and then.

[Preachyr]

It seems like most everyone here is on the same page as far as wanting T2A pvp mechanics and feel while being OK with new content.


I like that.


I think it was Penumb up above who stated it best, mechanics accuracy is most important, while visual charm and extra content would be good to add to keep players interested.


BODS can be interesting and I would love to see them implemented just to give crafters somethign to do. The rewards don't have to be game changing. Runics need never be involved. Colored anvils, colored cloth, things that are cosmetic are a great reward and will still keep people filling them out trying to collect them all. This is good, it attracts players and gives them a reason to stay, and does absolutely nothing to affect the era mechanics or pvp or anything like that.


UOR houses and monsters fall into that same category. Extra content, visual charm, no effect on mechanics or pvp or era feel. I would love to see these things implemented.


Im happy to see that most people are on the same page here as far as keeping mechanics and feel accurate while adding content and cosmetics.


I also want to give another big thanks to you Jack for even having this discussion in the first place. It is nice to see a server owner involved in the community and willing to listen like this. If it wasnt for your involvement myself and my group would be gone quickly, but the way things have gone lately has us very happy to stick around and participate.

[Jack]

I have coded an implementation of the T2A moongates that is much less frustrating. It uses the same system as it did before, but the cycles are on a much faster timer. The "number of hops" will go forward every 5 seconds. It should always take less than a minute to get where you want to go.


I hope this can be a happy medium.

[Preachyr]

that seems like a fair compromise to me. The most frustrating part of the old moongate system was going through it back and forth for a solid 15-20 minutes trying to get to the spot you want.


This should fix that

[Randbo]

you cant really have pvp without a population base. it has been growing. it was in the 30's 3 weeks ago and now its consistently in the 50's. when it gets higher, we will start having pvp.


the tournaments are a great idea.


to keep the population growing you need to keep the game PLAYABLE. thats what the UOR menus are for. i applaud the idea of choice there. i would never craft using the old menus. as for you purists, DO IT WITHOUT RAZOR. RAZOR DIDNT EXIST BACK THEN. ya, hand job your crafting.


see how long crafters stick around. some changes, like the bandages, make the game playable AND NOT ANNOYING. we put up with it back then because this is all we had. and for purists like blackrock, simple, YOU PLAY that way, DONT MAKE US do it too.


i wish you stuck with the moongate menus. its still ease of use. we need to grow a vendor economy and that cant happen without reliable moongates. NOBODY WANTS TO WAIT MINUTES TO FIND THE RIGHT SPOT. again, ease of use changes to build the player base.


guys, we arent the same people we were 17 years ago. others who come to play here also arent the same they were back then.


make this server easy to use and people will come. oh ya, blackrock, purist, WHERE IS TRAMMEL? that was t2a also. nobody wants trammel. the prime reason most of us are here is felucca only. the wild west aspect was the single most fun aspect of this game.


i have said this before and i will say it again:


GIVE THE FLAVOR OF T2A, NOT THE PAIN OF T2A.


anyways, my 2 cents worth.


oh ya, please no bods. pure slavery, that was. and you are totally right, runics would completely ruin the balance of this game.

[Jack]

I have spent hours adjusting craft skills as I do them, to allow both implementations to run side by side. UO:R crafting menus will stay for those who want them, and T2A menus will be available for those who want the T2A menus.


Moongate and bandage decisions are final now.


Moongates will change back to a T2A implementation with faster cycle times. They're not just a little bit faster, they are alotfaster.I have tested these and you can get to your destination quickly enough. They are quite painless with the change.


Bandages will be reverted to 1 at a time. I've received a lot of complaints about many of the "features" here in the 6 months the shard has been up but bandage complaints have really been minimal. The decision to revert bandages was made in haste.


I am bending the policies of the shard to make things as painless as possible with the crafting and moongate, and I do not really feel good about that. The extra effort required in doing so is not neglible either. People play here for different reasons.As you can see 25% of the votes have been for pure era accuracy. So I just hope we can agree that these compromises are okay.


The good news is that there really aren't any "annoying features" of T2A left to put in, and the majority of work after the crafting menus are done, is into world content.