In this week’s Ask and Answer we have some very informative answers from the developers including a holiday appropriate question about bunnies. Enjoy!

UOForums

Easter is coming. So…

1. Would you consider adding Vorpal Bunnies to the loot system that powers Shame/Covetous/Wrong? Perhaps equivalent to a mid-level monster to recognize how agonizingly slow it is to grow green thorns?
2. Would you consider adding a (very) rare Vorpal Bunny statue drop?
3. Would you consider adding Vorpal Bunnies to the list of sources for the upcoming release of armor system-related ingredients?
4. Would you consider adding various imbuing ingredients to the list of Bunny loot items? (Magister_Returns)

Mesanna:  I get the idea you really like Vorpal bunnies.  You have to understand Vorpal bunnies are easy to farm in closed in areas so we have to be careful how much we put on them.  And with everything for gardening we have put in the game you can produce approx 73 thorns in 2 weeks.  As far as the statue, I don’t have an issue with putting in a Vorpal Bunny Statue or maybe a way to catch them during one easter and taming them, who knows =)

My personal bent towards UO skills is that if you put the effort and skill points towards a skill, you should be rewarded with a tangible in-game reward. As it stands, if you train resist spells you get a modest bump to your resists if you are not wearing any armor. Is there any chance the skill could be made more appealing if you offer this bonus even if you were wearing armor? The rewards could be tweaked to better balance the system but I think skill points are very limited (720 max) and should be accorded the proper weight based upon that fact.

My second resist magic question is in regards to pets. I know you guys have mentioned a pet overhaul but to that end, is there any way pets could enjoy the same resist benefits that players get with regards to their resist magic score. I actually have pet tamers for every single tameable out there and even though most of the weaker pets can’t handle the higher end bosses in the game, it is still quite enjoyable watching a pack of mongbats take down an ogre lord. I think one of the first things you should look at with weaker pets is to boost resists based on their magic resistance score. The players are putting the effort into training this skill, so reward them with better odds of survivability. (Sablestorm)

Mesanna:  I do not have an answer for this question but I can tell you that this question has caused a major discussion among the team.  When we settle on an agreement we will let you know…check back with us in the future….*laughs*

Puzzle Timer Adjustment plea…
I really think it’s a far better system for the plants, they are on a 23 hour timer. When the puzzle was new, people were cheating so horribly… they had to do something. Making it 24 hours, I think is just too much.
Say you do your puzzle at 8:30am every morning, as you eat your breakfast, before leaving to take care of business for the day. No matter how strict you keep it, you still loose ground every day. If you are late, over sleep, morning tummy issues, breakfast takes a little longer then normal, any tiny delay easily will make the task too inconvenient due to the 24 hour timer. You have to skip a day, start over again to put the task on your time. Even going 10 days will cause a delay waiting to get the token without any extra delay.
The plants, for all the work they offer when doing them by hand and not cheating with a house full of plant beds, you can keep to your time and not risk loosing the lot to illness.
Must it be 24 hours? Wouldn’t the same 23 hour limit be better and more friendlier for our game?  Please? I honestly think it’s funny you are tired one hour to the next, forget 1 day to the next and can’t work the puzzle. It’s not like the lamp posts. Just thinking about that one makes me tired. (EvilPixieWork)
UO Stratics Would it be possible to change quests on a 24 hr timer to reset at server up (or a set time daily) instead? This would make it so much easier to do daily quests like tier 3 Zosilem or experimental room puzzle quests without keeping notes when your char did them last. (Gheed)

Mesanna:  We agree and a bug will be put into the system for a future publish fix.

UO Japan

Repairing armor pieces one by one is not so fun for me. How about adding “repair service contract books”? Like bulk order books, you can stock various repair service contracts in the book. And if you click “repair all equipments” command of the book in appropriate shop in town, all your appropriate equipments are repaired at once. (Arata)

Mesanna:  This is actually an interesting idea.

I think the spyglass is almost meaningless item. It would be nice if I can find my lost pet by double clicking the spyglass. (Feedback)

Mesanna:  Lost pets are an issue not sure the spyglass is the solution, its much deeper than this.  I understand what your talking about but we do not track pets.

Recently new visual effects for leech effect were introduced to the game. Because of the effect, it’s hard to see how much I damaged the target. Could you adjust the effect to more smaller, simpler one? (Feedback)

Kyronix: I just had a look at this in both clients. I can see the little damage numbers above the mob ok, are you possibly talking about the mini health bar at the bottom in the EC? If that’s the case I’m not sure there is much we can do based on the fact that the effects generally originate from the base of the mob in the EC.

UO Stratics

Will the ancient liches ever be returned to Khaldun Dungeon? They were removed for a event and were supposed to be returned. They are unlike any other “ancient lich” in game. They even have their own back story.
From UO Guide:
In ancient times, Kaltivel, Anshu, Maliel, Baratoz, and Almonjin, were formerly the five most dreadful necromancers in the cabal who worshipped in Khaldun. They are now ressurected as fearsomely powerful liches in order to defend their underground temple from archaelogists and other adventurers who seek to claim its riches.
(Jirel of Joiry)

Mesanna:  I would love to return them and fix the shadow elementals, right now they are just crazy strong after a buff that a Dev game them for a past event.

When Samurai Empire 1st came out player could recall out of the Yamotsu mines. Well at least at the back where the fire beetles spawn. After sometime that was change and you can no longer recall out of the mine period.
My question is 2 part: Why was change to a no recall area and could it ever go back to being a recall out only area like the Dojo? Thank you (Luc of Legends)

Kyronix: We can adjust this in our upcoming publish so you can recall out of the mines.

Is there any chance we could get a shrine or healer placed permanantly in the Covetous mountain range? It is extrememly frustrating to have to run thru three levels of Cov after dying to overpowered lich casts. (Mentiras)

Mesanna:  Putting one outside near the mountains is not unreasonable.

The Dev Team has talked about a vendor search in game, is that still in the works and when can we expect to see it in game?

Mesanna:  I hope to have the vendor search in game by October.

We are happy to announce that due to a lot of hard work and all the players feedback we have found a major cause for the lag everyone has been experiencing.  We are publishing a fix for this and you will receive it after your normal maintenance cycle.  If you do experience any lag over the weekend please send barmstrong@ea.com the following information to help us in resolving the problem:

• Shard:
• What you are doing when you experience the lag:
• Time of day:
• Location on shard when you experienced the lag:

We appreciate you guys being patient with us while we resolve this.  Thank you!!  BTW if we yelled April Fool’s right now would you string us up and burn us?

Bonnie “Mesanna” Armstrong
Producer UO

A new client is being released during your shard’s regularly scheduled maintenance this evening. This client is to support some of the great holiday treats that have lined up for you!

In addition, the TC1 shard is being taken down for testing. At this time we expect to bring the server back up tomorrow morning.

Update: Maintenance has been completed.

We will be bringing the log in servers offline tomorrow, Tuesday March 12th, at 6:00 am EDT (10:00 GMT) for essential maintenance. 
At this time we anticipate that the servers will be back online no later than 9:00 am EDT (13:00 GMT). During the maintenance players will be unable to log in, change a subscription or redeem game codes.

Please be sure to check the Herald for updates regarding this downtime.

Currently testing Publish 81.0.0 on Test Center

*Weapon special move changes requires alternate game client found in patch directory:  client_tc.exe or UOSA_TC.exe.  This client is needed to test the following changes.

Armor Revamp – Update

• The components required to craft an armor refinement will be stocked in a minimum starting quantity of 500 on each vendor that sells them.
• Component weights have been normalized across all components to 1/10th of a stone.
• Armor refinements and components are insurable.
• The crafting region for Blacksmith refinements has been changed from Buccaneer’s Den to Cove.
• An anvil and forge have been added to the Armorer shop in Cove.
• Components will no longer be deleted out of secure containers.
• GM Blacksmith, Tailoring, or Carpentry skill is required to craft an armor refinement.  The refinement, however, can be applied by anyone so long as they are in the correct shop location.
• The number of intensity levels has been reduced from 7 to 5:
  • Invulnerability – Applies four modifications with a chance to apply five modifications.
  • Fortification – Applies three modifications with a chance to apply four modifications.
  • Hardening – Applies two modifications with a chance to apply three modifications.
  • Protection – Applies one modification with a chance to apply two modifications.
  • Defense – Applies one modification.
• Refinements adjust resists based on armor type in the following order:
  • Studded Leather – Physical, Fire, Cold, Poison, Energy
  • Studded Samurai – Physical, Fire, Cold, Energy, Poison
  • Hide – Energy, Poison, Cold, Fire, Physical
  • Bone – Poison, Cold, Energy, Physical, Fire
  • Ringmail – Fire, Physical, Cold, Poison, Energy
  • Chainmail – Cold, Fire, Physical, Poison, Energy
  • Platemail – Physical, Fire, Cold, Poison, Energy
  • Platemail Samurai – Physical, Fire, Cold, Energy, Poison
  • Gargish Platemail – Physical, Fire, Cold, Poison, Energy
  • Dragon – Fire, Energy, Poison, Cold, Physical
  • Woodland – Poison,  Cold, Physical, Energy, Fire
  • Gargish Stone- Cold, Energy, Poison, Physical, Fire

Armor Material Enhancement Bonus Update

Ore Type:

• Dull Copper:
  • Updated Physical Resist to 10
• Shadow:
  • Updated Physical Resist to 3
  • Updated Fire Resist to 2
  • Updated Energy Resist to 7
• Copper:
  • Updated Physical Resist to 2
  • Updated Fire Resist to 2
  • Updated Energy Resist to 2
  • Updated Poison Resist to 7
• Bronze:
  • Updated Physical Resist to 3
  • Updated Cold Resist to 7
  • Updated Energy Resist to 2
  • Updated Poison Resist to 2
• Golden:
  • Updated Physical Resist to 2
  • Updated Fire Resist to 2
  • Updated Cold Resist to 3
  • Updated Energy Resist to 3
• Agapite:
  • Updated Physical Resist to 2
  • Updated Fire Resist to 7
  • Updated Cold Resist to 2
  • Updated Energy Resist to 2
  • Updated Poison Resist to 2
• Verite:
  • Updated Physical Resist to 4
  • Updated Fire Resist to 4
  • Updated Cold Resist to 3
  • Updated Energy Resist to 1
  • Updated Poison Resist to 4
• Valorite:
  • Updated Physical Resist to 5
  • Updated Cold Resist to 4
  • Updated Energy Resist to 4
  • Updated Poison Resist to 4

Leather Type:

• Spined:
  • Updated Physical Resist to 9
  • Horned:
  • Updated Physical Resist to 2
  • Updated Fire Resist to 4
  • Updated Cold Resist to 3
  • Updated Energy Resist to 3
  • Updated Poison Resist to 3

• Barbed:
  • Updated Physical Resist to 3
  • Updated Fire Resist to 2
  • Updated Cold Resist to 3
  • Updated Energy Resist to 5
  • Updated Poison Resist to 3

Dragon Scale Type:

• Red:
  • Updated Physical Resist to 1
  • Updated Fire Resist to 11
  • Updated Cold Resist to -3
  • Updated Energy Resist to 1
  •  Updated Poison Resist to 1
• Yellow:
  • Updated Physical Resist to -3
  • Updated Fire Resist to 1
  • Updated Cold Resist to 1
  • Updated Energy Resist to 1
  • Updated Poison Resist to 1
• Black:
  • Updated Physical Resist to 11
  • Updated Fire Resist to  1
  • Updated Cold Resist to 1
  • Updated Energy Resist to -3
  • Updated Poison Resist to 1
• Green:
  • Updated Physical Resist to 1
  • Updated Fire Resist to -3
  • Updated Cold Resist to 1
  • Updated Energy Resist to 1
  • Updated Poison Resist to 11
• White
  • Updated Physical Resist to -3
  • Updated Fire Resist to 1
  • Updated Cold Resist to  11
  • Updated Energy Resist to 1
  • Updated Poison Resist to 1
• Blue
  • Updated Physical Resist to 1
  • Updated Fire Resist to 1
  • Updated Cold Resist to 1
  • Updated Energy Resist to 11
  • Updated Poison Resist to -3

Misc Changes:

• Hit lower defense now scales 55% of the players Defense Chance Increase and remains at -25 DCI versus non players. Hit lower defense now ignores over capped DCI.
• Ninjitsu Surprise Attack and Force Arrow special move now ignores over capped DCI.
• Dragon Scale armor can now be reforged.

Please submit feedback through one of the following:

• Contact Form – Under “Game Feedback”
• Stratics Test Center Forum

It is time for another Ask and Answer and our developers have answered another set of your excellent questions. Keep them coming!

UO Mania

Is there a cap for “Clean up Britannia” points? (ake)

Kyronix: Yes, the cap is at 10,000,000 points

The bankbox is overflowing on Test Center. Could we have more specific commands, for example “give black pearls”? (clorenz )

Kyronix: There are no plans to change how the bank boxes are filled on TC.  When certain situations dictate we give specific materials (like the armor refinements) utilizing other methods of delivery.

UO Japan

Please add wine racks that store bottles of wine. I want to see my bottles laid in the rack. (Nickname: s)

Kyronix: This is a good idea, you never know when you might see this in game =)

Please make the glass/snow tiles and the Thanksgiving foods stackable. (Ageha)

Kyronix: When time allows we can make additional items stackable.  We can add grass and snow tiles as well as the foods to the list.

UO Forum

Dealing with the Mythic site is a nightmare. Simple tasks are blown up in to major ordeals. With no phone support and lackluster online support, its driving off players that are new, returning and veteran. Are there any plans to fix this? (Quintus Batiatus)

Mesanna:  No one is going to disagree with your statement it is difficult to understand.  But a step by step guide was made to help guide people thru this difficult procedure.  Along with all the helpful players most people can get the answers they need to get thru this.  The only other thing I can think of to maybe help is to do a step 1, step 2, step 3 guide of a how to guide.  If you feel this would be helpful please let me know.

UO Stratics

Can you provide a list of UO skills ranked in order by how resistant each skill is to decay? The list of skills at the bottom of this post is one I copied from an old fan site and supposedly lists the skills in order from easiest to decay to hardest to decay, but I have no idea how accurate it is. It is also missing several skills (i.e., Bushido, Chivalry, Discordance, Focus, Imbuing, Mysticism, Necromancy, Ninjitsu, Spellweaving, Stealing, and Throwing).
Can you confirm whether it is true that if you are trying to gain in a skill that decays easier than a skill you have turned down to let it decay, your gains will be slower and in some cases stop altogether?
Can you also explain how the game decides which skill to decay when multiple skills are turned down, your character is at its overall skill cap and then gets a gain in a skill that is turned up but not yet capped?
Here is the old list of skills referenced in the first paragraph above, supposedly ranked in order from easiest to decay to hardest to decay.

Alchemy
Anatomy
Animal Lore
Item ID
Arms Lore
Parrying
Begging
Blacksmithy
Fletching
Peacemaking
Camping
Carpentry
CartographyCooking
Detecting Hidden
Evaluating Intelligence
Healing
Fishing
Forensic Evaluation
Herding
Hiding
Provocation
Inscription
Lockpicking
Magery
Resisting Spells
Tactics
Snooping
Musicianship
Poisoning
Archery
Spirit Speak
Tailoring
Animal Taming
Taste Identification
Tinkering
Tracking
Veterinary
Swordsmanship
Mace Fighting
Fencing
Wrestling
Lumberjacking
Mining
Meditation
Stealth
Remove Trap

Thanks!(Tina Small)
Mesanna:  Due to the fact its really easy to adjust the gains and lose of points in UO why would we need to worry about what the decay rate is?
I have currently found something that could use a good updating there are a number of things that dont appear or 1 that apears wrong on your buffs debuffs bar. here are some examples

1. criminal status-if you’re red or grey you have no way of knowing
2. combat Status-currently no way of knowing is you are still engaged
3. invis pot – currently has same icon as hiding where should be like the spell (non perm) (ReaperNI)

For those who want to engage in the game as a rogue or similar character, would it be possible in a future publish to have your criminal status shown in your buffs and debuffs display. Because lets face the inability to recall or gate is a definite debuff. (Whitestar4016)
(supplementary information. There is a ‘criminal act’ debuff icon, but it only triggers if an npc notices the crime (stealing), and not at all in Exodus dungeon, It also has no timer. Inability to recall is not dependent on the crime being noticed. – Petra)

Bleak:  Publish 80 added the criminal status and heat of battle debuff icons which provide most of the requested information above. We will look to add more cases where the criminal status debuff icon is applied in a future publish. The invisibility potion will be properly updated as well.

Will it ever be possible to craft or imbue Fey slayer on a weapon?..Good reason to keep the fey wings from Abyss… (T-Hunt)
Mesanna:    I agree, look for it in a future publish
I really like the Ankh Pendant and I use it on several of my characters, however it means I must sacrifice properties for that equipment slot.
Is there any chance the Ankh Pendant might be made Imbuable? It would of course lose its Blessed property in the process. (Fink)

Mesanna:  This would only benefit the gargoyles, I don’t feel it would be fair for only one race to be able to get this.

A. Is it possible to have a trash chest at the queen’s soulforge? (Ivory Norwind)
B. Would it be possible for our candles blessed by love to have a flame?(Falseprophet)

Mesanna:  Yes its possible to get a trash chest at the quests soul forge.  As far as the candle it seems that when the art was done for that the animation was not done.  This would have to be added in the future but I can not promise you when.

Remember; If you have something you want to know about Ultima Online and the team, post your questions on your fansite. All interesting questions will be collected and sent to our team, so we can continue to answer them.

An interview with Ultima Online’s Lead QA, Michael “Misk” Armstrong, was recently published on the UO Forums. The interview contains lots of interesting information such as where the name Misk came from and what’s the biggest challenge in supporting UO. Be sure to head over to the UO Forums to check it out.

In an effort to improve hardware performance, Napa Valley will be taken down today, at  11:00 am EST (17:00 CET).  

At the moment we anticipate the servers to be back online at 2:00pm EST (20:00 CET).

After the improvements have been implemented, we would appreciate any feedback regarding lag issues on this shard sent to barmstrong@ea.com.  In these emails the following information would be greatly helpful:

• Geographic location
• Location in game when you experience the most lag
• What  activity you were doing ( if applies)
• Time you see the most lag

Thank you for your patience as we work to improve shard performance.

Update 2:30pm EST: Baja and Great Lakes are back online.

In an effort to improve hardware performance, Baja and Great Lakes will be taken down today, at 10:45 am EST (16:45 CET).  

At the moment we anticipate the servers to be back online at 1:00pm EST (19:00 CET).

After the improvements have been implemented, we would appreciate any feedback regarding lag issues on these two shards sent to barmstrong@ea.com.  In these emails the following information would be greatly helpful:

• Geographic location
• Location in game when you experience the most lag
• What  activity you were doing ( if applies)
• Time you see the most lag

Thank you for your patience as we work to improve shard performance.

Greetings everyone,

Just wanted to drop everyone an update on the current lag issues you are seeing. We are working hard on this issue and will keep you updated on our progress.  I just wanted to let everyone know we appreciate your patience and we appreciate any constructive feedback you can give us regarding the lag you are experiencing.
Last night a new client was released.  This client fixed the crash players were experiencing at the Exodus Encounter. 

We are putting out a server publish tomorrow with the following fixes during the next maintenance cycle:

• Fixed the issues with pets at the Dread Horn Encounter
• Character statues will no longer be ejected from houses during house customization
• Fountain of Life and the Hearth of Fire will no longer be turned when customizing your house
• Container addons and House Teleporters will no longer lose security settings during house customization

Bonnie “Mesanna” Armstrong
Producer UO