Publish 16 – PvP and Felucca enhancements

UO Team 23 Jul 2002 00:00:00 EST

These changes will enhance PvP in Felucca’s dungeons and Lost Lands by changing the treatment of stat loss, loot loss, and murderers, as well as detailing some new rewards that may be found in the Felucca dungeons and Lost Lands areas.

Felucca Changes

NOTES:

1. These changes apply to the non-SP/IGR shards only!
2. These changes are an independent set, not to be combined with any other Felucca change proposals listed previously.

Intent
As a brief preface, we’d like to explain the essential goals of the changes listed in this document.
The below changes should…

1. Establish an area where non-consensual pvp can thrive for a significant number of UO’s players.
2. Create a risk versus reward model that encourages non-consensual pvp based around resource control rather than profit from the deceased.
3. Provide meaningful and compelling rewards for players that successfully adventure in the specified areas.

Changes to the Dungeons and Lost Land areas of Felucca
In order to establish an area where players can engage in a meaningful struggle for the control of resources without drastically impacting the current play patterns of Felucca’s citizens, the Dungeon and Lost Land areas of Felucca will be modified.

1. When a non-Murderer is killed in the Dungeon/Lost Land areas of Felucca, all of the character’s items other than gold, gems, ingots, ore, leather, hides, wool, wood, boards, and cursed items will remain on their ghost (unlootable).
2. When a Murderer is killed in the Dungeon/LL areas of Felucca, 50% of the character’s items (random result per item) other than gold, gems, ingots, ore, leather, hides, wool, wood, boards, and cursed items will remain on their ghost (unlootable).
3. Any player that dies in the Dungeon/LL areas of Felucca will immediately be given a mandatory “stuck player” option (forced to leave the dungeon and lost land servers). During this process, the player will not be able to hear spoken words (they can send/receive party messages as normal).
4. A player that dies in the Dungeon/LL areas of Felucca will not be able to return to those servers for 30 minutes.
5. Ghosts will be unable to enter the Dungeon/LL areas of Felucca.
6. Players will no longer be able to recall or gate into or out of the Dungeon/LostLand areas of Felucca.
7. The various dungeons of Felucca will be linked to each other via teleporters to help alleviate crowding and bottlenecks.
8. When a player reports a murder, only the long-term murder count will be incremented.
9. If a murderer dies in the Dungeon/LL areas of Felucca, they will not take stat loss upon their next resurrection.
10. When stealing from innocents, thieves will only be able to steal gold and gems in the Dungeon/LL areas of Felucca. Thieves will continue to be able to use the full range of their thieving abilities against consensual-pvp opponents (guild wars, order/chaos, factions).
11. Many Dungeon/LL areas of Felucca will contain “champion regions” (a.k.a. “Evil-in-a-Can”).
12. The various champions of evil and “The Harrower” itself (a new champion monster, not to be confused with the mere “tentacles of the Harrower”) that spawn in Dungeon/LL areas of Felucca will carry special Scrolls of Power (detailed further below).
13. The Minax faction stronghold will be relocated from the lost lands to another location in Felucca.
14. The city of Delucia will no longer be a “faction city”. However, the city of Vesper will become a faction city.

Changes to the consequences/conditions of the “Murderer” status

1. The “bounty system” will be eliminated.
2. The “murderer” paperdoll title will be eliminated (although players with 5 murders will still highlight red and be considered “murderers” in this document). This does mean a red character can be titled as “Dread Lord” again, assuming they have enough fame and karma to warrant it.
3. Red characters will not be able to gain Virtue, or use any Virtue abilities.
4. When a red character takes stat loss, all short term counts will be wiped.

Changes to the conditions of the “Criminal” status
Innocents (blues) will no longer be able to negatively affect other innocents through the following area effects indirectly: purple potions, mass curse, meteor swarm, chain lightning, earthquake, fire field, poison field, paralyze field, blade spirits, or energy vortex. This applies to all of Felucca.

Changes to the consequences/conditions of being a “Thief”
Stealing will no longer be considered an aggressive act, although it will continue to be a criminal act (players will not be able to report a thief for murder if they attack the thief but lose the fight). This applies to all of Felucca.

Increased reward in all of Felucca In order to provide incentives for some of Britannia’s braver citizens such that they have reason to spend more time in Felucca, we will institute several measures that are intended to increase the reward for adventuring in Felucca.

1. Felucca will have much of its spawn modified to include fewer monsters overall, yet a much higher percentage of medium to high-end monsters (liches, daemons, ancient wyrms, blood elementals, etc…), and far fewer low-end monsters (slimes, rats, snakes, headless’, etc…).
2. Mines, trees, sheep, will produce double the normal resources in Felucca, as will all creatures that produce leather or feather resources.
3. Monsters in Felucca will provide more fame and karma.

“Cursed” items

1. Some new items that are available exclusively through adventures in the Felucca dungeons and lost lands will be “cursed” (the opposite of “blessed”).
2. Cursed items will always drop to the player’s corpse upon death, regardless of any other looting rules.

Scrolls of Power
Scrolls of Power are significant new items that allow veteran players to continue the development and/or specialization of their characters.

Skill Scrolls:

1. A new type of scroll will be added that allows players to raise the limits of their possible maximum skill values beyond 100.0 (up to 120.0).
2. The player’s skill will not actually be raised upon using the scroll, but the cap on that skill will be raised to the appropriate level, depending on which scroll was used.
3. These scrolls will only be found on “Champions of Evil” that spawn in the Dungeons and Lost Lands areas on the Felucca facet.
4. For each eligible skill, there are 4 different types of scrolls:
   • +5.0 (raises the appropriate skill’s limit to 105.0)
   • +10.0 (raises the appropriate skill’s limit to 110.0)
   • +15.0 (raises the appropriate skill’s limit to 115.0)
   • +20.0 (raises the appropriate skill’s limit to 120.0)
5. The skill scrolls are not cumulative (you must use one +20.0 skill scroll to reach a maximum value of 120.0 skill, that character cannot use four separate +5.0 skill scrolls to achieve the same result).
6. Once a scroll of a given type and value has been used, scrolls of lesser or equal type and value can no longer be used (ie: if you use a +10.0 Magery skill scroll to raise your Magery skill limit to 110.0, that character can no longer use any +5.0 or +10.0 Magery skill scrolls).
7. The more powerful scrolls will spawn less frequently than less powerful scrolls.
8. Once a player uses the skill scroll and raises their skill limit, they will then be able to gain in that skill (through normal means) until they reach their new skill limit.
9. All skill points gained above 100.0 continue to count against the player’s skill cap (if the player is a “7x GM” and wants to raise 5 skills to 120.0, they would have to lower 1 of their gm skills and eventually become a 5x 120, 1x 100 character).
10. Skill scrolls are “cursed” items (explained further below), but are consumed upon use.
11. Players may trade and/or sell skill scrolls to other players (it is not required for the player that found them to use them).
12. Only the following skill scrolls will spawn as of Publish 16:
    • Swordsmanship
    • Fencing
    • Mace Fighting
    • Archery
    • Wrestling
    • Parrying
    • Tactics
    • Anatomy
    • Healing
    • Magery
    • Meditation
    • Evaluate Intelligence
    • Magic Resistance
    • Animal Taming
    • Animal Lore
    • Veterinary
    • Musicianship
    • Provocation
    • Enticement
    • Peacemaking

The interface for skill scrolls will function as follows:

1. Player “uses” the skill scroll (double-click).
2. The appropriate skill now has a “cap” of 100.0 + the value according to the type of scroll (i.e.: 105.0 for a +5.0 skill scroll).
3. The player may view their maximum skill value in the skills window (this will be patched as a publish 16 client change). For example, a player might see:Magery 92.1/115.0

Stat Scrolls:

1. Stat scrolls can only be found on “The Harrower” (a new “arch champion” that will also be found in the dungeon and Lost Land areas of Felucca, and will be described in more detail in the near future… not to be confused with the mere “Tentacles of the Harrower”).
2. When used, stat scrolls increase the character’s actual stat cap, thereby allowing players to gain stats beyond the normal 225-point limit.
3. Stat scrolls can be found in 5 varieties: +5, +10, +15, +20, and +25.
4. The stat scrolls are not cumulative (you must use one +25 stat scroll to reach a stat cap of 250, you cannot use five separate +5 stat scrolls to achieve the same result).
5. As of Publish 16, the new limit on any one stat will be raised from 100 to 125. This is independent of the stat scroll additions, and will be applied to all players.
6. Once a scroll of a given type and value has been used, scrolls of lesser or equal type and value can no longer be used (ie: if you use a +10 stat scroll to raise your stat cap to 235, that character can no longer use any +5 or +10 stat scrolls).
7. The more powerful scrolls will spawn less frequently than less powerful scrolls.
8. Once a player uses a stat scroll and raises their stat cap, they will be able to gain in any stat (through normal means) until they reach their new stat limit.
9. Stat scrolls are “cursed” items, but are consumed upon use.
10. Players may trade and/or sell stat scrolls to other players (it is not required for the player that found them to use them).

The interface for stat scrolls will function as follows:

1. Character “uses” the stat scroll (double-click).
2. The character now has a stat cap equal to 225 + the value according to the type of scroll (i.e.: 240 for a +15 stat scroll).
3. The player may view their stat maximum status window (this will be patched as a publish 16 client change). For example, a player might see: Stat Maximum 230

FAQ

What does this mean for the other changes – one red, all red, the 30% looting thing, etc?
These changes are the new proposal that will completely replace the old proposal. This is INSTEAD of the other changes, not in addition to them.

What about the rest of Felucca – is it changing?
The mainland of Felucca will, for the most part, retain the same rule set with the following exceptions:

• Stealing will no longer be considered an aggressive act (although it’s still a criminal act).
• Felucca spawn changes will affect all of Felucca, except the Hero spawn will only occur in the Dungeon/Lost Lands areas.
• Resource levels, along with fame and karma, will be raised in Felucca.
• Vesper will become a faction town.
• The Minax stronghold will be relocated to a mountainous area of Felucca.
• Blues can no longer indirectly damage other blues through area effect spells.
• Increased stat cap on individual stats for all characters (from 100 to 125).
• Skill and stat scrolls will be able to be used in Trammel or Felucca, and their effects will remain constant across all facets.

“Fewer monsters overall”? What’s up with that?
Large quantities of monsters in Felucca will be swapped with lower quantity, higher quality monsters. For example, is that there won’t be as many hordes of rats, but you might instead see a few large rats or ratmen, or perhaps even something single, more powerful entity, like a lich lord.

Any changes to Trammel or Ilshenar?

• Increased stat cap on individual stats for all characters (from 100 to 125).
• Skill and stat scrolls will be able to be used in Trammel or Felucca, and their effects will remain constant across all facets.

Why double the ore in Felucca where miners and resource gatherers can get ganked?
Since there’s nothing in these resource spots you can’t get in Trammel, this change isn’t intended to persuade resource gatherers to mine/gather in Felucca. However, we feel that anyone who braves the greater risk should get a greater reward for their trouble.

Why are you changing both the dungeons and the Lost Lands? Why not one or the other?
There’s two main reasons for this. One is that all these areas are on the same sub-server, which will make the change in rules much easier; and two, this creates a larger area with more variety for the new Hero spawns.

Can’t return to the dungeon server for 30 minutes? Why?
In order for the challenge of fighting the Hero spawns and surviving in these areas to really be a challenge, we need to be sure that people can’t just keep dying and immediately coming back indefinitely. By keeping people from coming right back into the fray of the fight after dying, players are able to establish some kind of control over the resources and territory they’re fighting over. It will also be a greater challenge to groups – it will be highly beneficial to keep your group members alive, thus keeping your group as powerful as it can be.

Blues can’t hurt other blues? Anywhere?
This change affects all of Felucca. Blues can still harm other blues with area effect spells if they target them directly, but they won’t hurt other blues who are accidentally caught in the area effect radius.

So is there any change to how long it takes to work off a murder count?
No, there are no changes.

If I steal from someone in Felucca, or from someone I am in a guildwar with in Trammel, will I get a murder count?
If you steal from anyone, in any situation that allows stealing, you will “go grey” to that person and he may attack you in return, but you will not gain a murder count.

So I can still go grey by stealing?
Yes, but you aren’t going to be considered the aggressor, so you can’t be given a murder count after stealing from someone and being attacked. This applies to any situation on any facet where stealing is allowed, such as guildwars.

You mention a “stuck player” option when you die in Felucca’s dungeons/Lost Lands. Is this the same as the one from the Help menu?
It is similar, but there will be some small, important differences. This new type of “stuck player” option will allow the dead character to immediately move to the town chosen from the “stuck list,” while the Help menu version will continue to have a 2-minute wait before teleporting to town. The new menu will also not be able to be “cancelled”—players must choose a target city or one will be chosen at random for them within a few seconds.

So what about people who get hurt in the Lost Lands area, then go back to Felucca to die, thus giving their aggressor a short-term murder count?
This is something we’ve thought about, and we do have some ideas worked out to prevent this.

What about the PKs who will camp the Hero spawn areas to get the scrolls?
It will most likely take at least 6-10 players to get the champion to spawn, and only one will have the scroll, making it difficult for PKs to know who is carrying anything valuable. Not to mention the fact that potential PK’s will also have to deal with monsters as well!

There will also be 17 different areas in the Felucca dungeons/Lost Lands where the Heroes will spawn, so it will be difficult to camp all of them – as well, the spawn areas in the LL will rotate, making it that much harder.

When do murderers take stat loss and when do they not?
In the main land of Felucca, short term and long-term counts will remain just as they are now. Stat loss is still based on having 5 or more short term counts. The difference is that people who murder others in the dungeons/LL of Felucca will only take long-term counts (which only determines whether or not you are red, and does not lead to stat loss).

So I can’t take stat loss in the Felucca dungeon/Lost Lands?
Nope! Even if you have short term murder counts and would typically take stat loss in the main Felucca area, you can die in the dungeon or Lost Lands server and be resurrected (somewhere outside Felucca’s dungeons or lost lands) with no stat loss.

Red characters will no longer gain Virtues. What happens to my existing virtue points?
You will not be able to gain in any Virtue, and your existing Virtue points will decay as normal.

If my murderer dies in a Feluccan dungeon, will I be able to go back and get my stuff?
The corpses of players’ characters decay within a few minutes. The proposed system prohibits that character from returning to the dungeon server for 30 minutes, so obviously your corpse (and any items contained within) will have long decayed. After teleporting to town, if you think your items may still be recoverable, you have the option to try switching characters or asking a friend to recover your items for you.

If I get a +20 skill scroll, does that mean all my skills can go up to 120?
No, only the one skill that relates to the skill scroll. If you found a magery skill scroll, only your magery will be allowed to exceed normal limits and achieve 120. Note also that your total skill points will not exceed the current cap of 700 points. A “maxed out” character currently can achieve 7xGM (a score of 100 in each of 7 skills). With the skill scroll system, a character can achieve 5×120, +1xGM (a score of 120 in each of 5 skills, with a score of 100 in a sixth skill).

So can I raise my total skill cap with these scrolls?
No, the skill cap remains the same, at 700 points. The increased skill limits will count towards that same skill cap.

Why are there only skill scrolls available for certain skills?
Those are the only skills that continue to give an added benefit once they’re over 100 – we could enable you to raise other skills over 100, but there would be no purpose to it.

Isn’t the ability to raise skills over 100 going to imbalance combat?
We’ll be modifying the effects of skills over 100 and will be introducing new items that help maintain balance for all characters.

Can cursed items be stolen?
Yes, but not in Lost Lands areas, since the only things that can be stolen there will be gold and gems.

Will all heroes drop scrolls?
Currently the idea is that they will, but we will be doing extensive playtesting to determine the best rate that won’t be unbalancing.

Why do I have to fight PKs to get the good stuff?
These items will be sold in Trammel, so people who do not wish to risk being killed can buy them from other players. Since players cannot use these scrolls cumulatively, and cannot use any scrolls lower than one they’ve already used, not all scrolls found will be usable by the person who found them, and will undoubtedly be sold.

Won’t characters who use skill scrolls be better than me?
Characters currently cannot gain skill points beyond a combined total of 700, and this will not change. Both your character and the character that uses skill scrolls will still have that same “cap” on total skill points achievable.

Your character will not necessarily be better or worse than the one that uses skill scrolls, although a player that does use skill scrolls will have more options opened up to him as to how to tailor his character, in that he can raise certain skills higher than the current standard of 100 (Grandmaster)