What features does everyone want the most?

Red Squirrel · Post by **Red Squirrel** » Fri Feb 11, 2011 8:35 pm

We are doing lot of development and planing in the background to decide what to release, when, and what order. Our influence is mostly based on what is realistic to code fast enough but I'd also be interested to know what features would make people want to play again.

So what features is everyone waiting on, that once we get it, will make you want to play more? We are working around the clock to release all the remaining content, but there is still lot of work to do. If we can at least get an idea what people want the most, we can potentially re-prioritize depending on if said features require major system recoding or not.

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Nexus Graveheart · Post by **Nexus Graveheart** » Fri Feb 11, 2011 10:34 pm

Well, I don't know in particular what all features are planned, so I will base my reply on what has been spoken of since the idea of the "new" shard began.

In order of first to last.

- Any adjustment of current items or systems should occur first, while the player-base hovers around 3-5. This includes altering intensities of AoAs and any other AoV unique item, the fleshing out of the masterpiece system, the dis-continuation or proliferation of unique monsters/tamables.

- Then finish spawning, or altering current spawns. The Lost Lands seems rather empty, as well as many of the wilderness sections of Malas and the Britannian continent. Perhaps the spawner radius could simple be expanded, but my adventures have shown many empty areas and then small, very populated areas.

Basically, anything that needs to be in existence before the revamp needs to be tested and ready to go on the server before marketing for the revamp begins. Smaller things, like rare drops from all beasts (shameless plug), and new events, etc, etc, can be instituted later.

But really, as long as the core stuff you guys have been slaving over for the past few years are reliable and complete (in your opinion), then ANY new content would be greatly acceptable to me.

So, after all that, my own priority list is:

((((- My first hope would be a dynamic world in which the players have the ability, through actions, to affect the landscape and towns. This, of course, would likely be something that is only possible through staff/player interaction via events. But that makes it even better. To know that a players actions may change the world [i.e. constantly killing the beasts along a road will cause the road to become safe, etc] would be wonderful.))))

The previous idea is a simple hope, RP is wonderful.

- Something to help spur an economy. At this point, everything is worthless. Or only sentimentally valuable. This would involve, of course, more players.

- Proper percentages on resources gathering/smelting over 100 skill, or removing the possibility of the skill going over a reliable level.

- The removal of the random resource veins.

- Special drops on every beast, or at least a large percentage of them. All having no effect on balance.

- PvP events to interest those players who enjoy PvP. And perhaps titles/rewards for those players to display.

- A community collection for AoAs. I am tired of seeing people stack dozens of AoAs on their roofs. It hasn't been impressive...ever, and it would be cool to see those stacks disappear.

- A general toning down of the wild hues available in the pigment room...this is personal, so it can be thrown out if disagreeable.

- The reconstruction of the Brunus' old Demitel Palace and turn it into a mega-peerless with Demitel as the boss. (This was discussed a looong time ago I believe, but the revamp took precedence)

But...really. Let all of us know what you have been planning behind the scenes for so long. And get it out, or at the very least open up a discussion with us regarding it. I can't remember the last time we had a content release, something to get players out there doing something. To compensate, I've created an old school axer who is a blast to play with because almost everything is a challenge now.

I've played this shard longer than I played on OSI, and I started in 2000. I can't wait to see what you guys have in store for us, because you have proved to be exceptionally good at coding and execution.

P.S. Mordak has been sick for way too long and my healer has almost died sitting next to him, looking for a sign of a cure.

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Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Sat Feb 12, 2011 4:25 am

Nexus Graveheart wrote:
My first hope would be a dynamic world in which the players have the ability, through actions, to affect the landscape and towns. This, of course, would likely be something that is only possible through staff/player interaction via events. But that makes it even better. To know that a players actions may change the world [i.e. constantly killing the beasts along a road will cause the road to become safe, etc] would be wonderful.

This would be amazing if this happens. Things like at the start of the weeks towns would be sprawling with monsters and you need to clear out the town to buy from npc's their and stuff. I would be rapped if any new content would be released. The only thing I can think of apart from Nexus's idea is to have more custom bosses like Vader.

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dprantl · Post by **dprantl** » Sat Feb 12, 2011 10:10 am

Is this a serious question? Ability to play on the latest patch level, I think it has been said 250 times now. How can you get more players when they can't even connect/log in?

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Nexus Graveheart · Post by **Nexus Graveheart** » Sat Feb 12, 2011 10:20 am

dprantl wrote:Is this a serious question? Ability to play on the latest patch level, I think it has been said 250 times now. How can you get more players when they can't even connect/log in?

Man, I didn't even think of that. That's definitely something that should happen.

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Death · Post by **Death** » Sat Feb 12, 2011 1:05 pm

dprantl wrote:Is this a serious question? Ability to play on the latest patch level, I think it has been said 250 times now. How can you get more players when they can't even connect/log in?

This ^. Nobody is going to log in if it's not easy to connect. That's the main problem. Right now, connecting to the shard is sorely lacking in instructions and patch level. Let's concentrate on getting this out as soon as possible, then worry about everything else.

The second thing is you need players to get players. If players log in and see 2 other people online, they aren't going to stay on. In order to be able to sustain the player base you need to remove anything that would turn off players from the start (IE: lack of new player help or staff).

Pretty much I don't think it's "what should we do first". Everything is equally as important and introducing one change isn't going to do it alone. Personally, here's my list:

- Release the SQL engine and finish ML. This is the most important thing as it allows players to patch up to the required level and connect to the shard easily.

- Fix any bugs and improve staff + dev and player interaction on forums and in game. Fixing stuff should also be done in a timely manner. Scaling for accuracy would also be put in this area.

- Add in any fully tested new content that won't bomb game play (As in, no crazy bosses, items or pets). This includes any OSI system like new fish from UOHS or anything that doesn't dramatically affect game play.

This is not a 1 deal fix. If will likely help but there's plenty of areas that need improvement.

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Red Squirrel · Post by **Red Squirrel** » Sat Feb 12, 2011 1:41 pm

Patch is a given, but people have been instructed to not update. There is a post clearly stating the patch version we are running on and how to connect. People just stopped playing due to lack of something. Trying to figure out exactly what this is. Used to be 20+ users online at any given time, they could all connect fine on the current patch level.

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Death · Post by **Death** » Sat Feb 12, 2011 1:51 pm

Red Squirrel wrote:Patch is a given, but people have been instructed to not update. There is a post clearly stating the patch version we are running on and how to connect. People just stopped playing due to lack of something. Trying to figure out exactly what this is. Used to be 20+ users online at any given time, they could all connect fine on the current patch level.

Aside from the patch I would say lack of any kind of update. Basically the shard is the same as it was a good year ago so everyone got bored with the same content. Also, any new bugs weren't fixed so that's kind of a downer. The lack of attention to the live server had an affect on all parts, so if attention is brought back to it, so will interest.

When Onykage went on around Christmas and when there were events being done, there were about 10 people online.

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geezushhchrist · Post by **geezushhchrist** » Sun Feb 13, 2011 1:42 am

could make it so creatures with higher stats drop better gear/have a higher arty chance then things with lower stats (like a paragon bally with min stats wouldn't have a higher drop rate then a para bally with max stats) if that isnt implented and i dont know it because i havent been able to get uo on my laptop

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Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Sun Feb 13, 2011 2:18 am

Red Squirrel wrote:Patch is a given, but people have been instructed to not update. There is a post clearly stating the patch version we are running on and how to connect. People just stopped playing due to lack of something. Trying to figure out exactly what this is. Used to be 20+ users online at any given time, they could all connect fine on the current patch level.

Some people only have one client version with the latest patch, they need the latest patch to play the big shards like hybrid or demise. Your saying their used to be 20 users online at any given time but that was when 6.o.12.4 patch wasn't as far behind the newer ones

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dprantl · Post by **dprantl** » Sun Feb 13, 2011 8:55 am

I bet most potential players don't even read the forum, they have the UO:ML client, input UOValor info and try to log in. It hangs, they say WTF, then try another shard in the list.

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d. · Post by d. » Sun Feb 13, 2011 10:09 am

dprantl wrote:I bet most potential players don't even read the forum, they have the UO:ML client, input UOValor info and try to log in. It hangs, they say WTF, then try another shard in the list.

I agree.

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Red Squirrel · Post by **Red Squirrel** » Sun Feb 13, 2011 11:05 pm

The only way to know the server name is to see the home page, which has all the info required to connect.

We are on uogateway and some top site lists, but even then, that just links to the site.

I do hope that once we update the patch more people will want to play, but I just can't see how a 5 minute file copy to enable to play on more then one shard is stopping so many people from playing. TC1 and DEV is running one of the latest patches and I have no issues flipping between patches to connect to either shard. Razor has that feature built in.

Guess we'll see once we update, which I'm hoping will be soon. ML is one big beast to code and still lot of work to do and I can't even guarantee it will be complete once we do update. There are so many systems that need to be recoded to avoid all the spaghetti code.

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Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Mon Feb 14, 2011 2:27 am

Why are we not on ConnectUO?

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Red Squirrel · Post by **Red Squirrel** » Mon Feb 14, 2011 8:52 am

Hmm I could probably add it. I think we were at some point but it was before their data loss issue.

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dprantl · Post by **dprantl** » Mon Feb 14, 2011 11:10 am

Squirrel, I think you need to try really hard to imagine yourself in the shoes of someone that has only 50% of the computer skills you do. A lot of people wouldn't know where to start to have two UO clients on their boxes. There are people that get confused by simultaneous equations...

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Death · Post by **Death** » Mon Feb 14, 2011 11:33 am

dprantl wrote:Squirrel, I think you need to try really hard to imagine yourself in the shoes of someone that has only 50% of the computer skills you do. A lot of people wouldn't know where to start to have two UO clients on their boxes. There are people that get confused by simultaneous equations...

This. What I always like to try to do is picture things from the perspective of the user.

If it's hard to find information or to connect then it's going to get frustrating. When I went to answer a post about what client players should patch up to, it took me more than 5 minutes to find the answer. I know search is a useful tool but we should not depend on it for critical information.

I have made the suggestion before to rethink a few things and help make it easier for the user because ultimately, as dprantl has mentioned, most people don't have the computer skills as some of us do so you do have to walk with them.

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LordWolfX · Post by **LordWolfX** » Thu May 05, 2011 1:41 am

update client so i can login to mess around every now and again =-]

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Red Squirrel · Post by **Red Squirrel** » Thu May 05, 2011 8:41 am

Easier said than done. We're working on it. As the client is a major core change to the whole system, we can't just release parts of it, we need to release the whole new system, and it's not ready yet.

when we do release, there will be a lot of new content as well. The longer it ends up taking, the more content will be added. While I'm working around the clock to get the SQL system working properly, Death is working on quests and other ML stuff. There's no turning back, too many major changes have been made, it has to work, period. there is some great progress, just need to figure out an issue that is minor, but still too major to make it production worthy.

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