Newsletter 18

Phreak

Skett said:

That seems like an easy mistake anyone could have made and an easy fix. 

I agree and to be clear when I received the email it did not mention the shard.  I am thankful for her to go out of her way to put the house on my character due to my schedule constraints.  

Archangel

so mages get nerfd even more... surprise surprise!

Oreogl

Archangel said:

so mages get nerfd even more... surprise surprise!

This is pretty much every PvP update.

before it was SDI nerf, parry nerf etc etc

Lord_Frodo

Wait till it hits TC before screaming.

CovenantX

I hope the pvp updates is only a partial list... if not, it's incredibly disappointing that Parry isn't touched at all.   -the most obvious thing in UO (only second, to cheats) and it's going to be at least another 4-6 months before it even has another chance to be ignored again?

Skett

@Kyronix will there be dull copper and shadow iron robe/cloak/dress/etc added to past years like 1st/2nd or 6th/7th this year picks ?

It seem it should have been the first robe/cloak and its still not on the list yet to finish the set.

Thank You.

keven2002

Skett said:

@ Kyronix will there be dull copper and shadow iron robe/cloak/dress/etc added to past years like 1st/2nd or 6th/7th this year picks ?

It seem it should have been the first robe/cloak and its still not on the list yet to finish the set.

Thank You.

My 2 cents as someone who initially chose a verite/valorite reward clothes when they first came out; those colors were all about status. I used to think I was so elite with my full valorite plate with my valorite cloak.

Dull copper isn't prestigious at all and the color is probably close to a death robe. Same thing with shadow (although shades of shadow / coal are popular). On top of that, with all the other colors that have been added (like fire etc) it seems like the ship has sailed on the "boring" colors to finish out the ore set colors.

Oreogl

CovenantX said:

I hope the pvp updates is only a partial list... if not, it's incredibly disappointing that Parry isn't touched at all.   -the most obvious thing in UO (only second, to cheats) and it's going to be at least another 4-6 months before it even has another chance to be ignored again?

What would they touch with party?

CovenantX

Oreogl said:

CovenantX said:

I hope the pvp updates is only a partial list... if not, it's incredibly disappointing that Parry isn't touched at all.   -the most obvious thing in UO (only second, to cheats) and it's going to be at least another 4-6 months before it even has another chance to be ignored again?

What would they touch with party?

  There are a number of things they could do to parry to keep it relevant and not be the dumbest garbage in the game.. aside from unpunished cheating of course.

  Just a few options to change Parry.  -obviously, the passive stuff could stay the way it is in Pvm

  1) Make it harder (an actual sacrifice) for Mages to use it.  reduce maximum block chance down from 35% to 20%  (chances can still be slightly increased with mastery activation etc)

  2) Reduce Parry chances while under the effects of HLD

  3) Spells cast while Parrying an attack are interrupted, damage from attack skill mitigated.

  -Evasion should probably also be effected, but there are already ways to interrupt spells to one under the effects of evade, just no reliable, weapon-based interruptions.

  4) Get rid of the passive parry chance, and make parrying a 'use skill', blocking attacks would only be possible during a duration, based on parry skill/dex    -Bushido spells which proc on parried attacks would auto-trigger parry 'use skill'. (separate cooldowns)

  5) make shields disarm-able  (I don't like this much, but it's an option better than leaving it alone).

 Edit- 6) Allow blocked attacks to still trigger any hit-spell effects of the weapon that was parried.

  Oh, and Glenda + Shieldbash shouldn't trigger bonebreaker...  if that's intended, why did they nerf less powerful things to stack bonebreaker with?

Oreogl

CovenantX said:

Oreogl said:

CovenantX said:

I hope the pvp updates is only a partial list... if not, it's incredibly disappointing that Parry isn't touched at all.   -the most obvious thing in UO (only second, to cheats) and it's going to be at least another 4-6 months before it even has another chance to be ignored again?

What would they touch with party?

  There are a number of things they could do to parry to keep it relevant and not be the dumbest garbage in the game.. aside from unpunished cheating of course.

  Just a few options to change Parry.  -obviously, the passive stuff could stay the way it is in Pvm

  1) Make it harder (an actual sacrifice) for Mages to use it.  reduce maximum block chance down from 35% to 20%  (chances can still be slightly increased with mastery activation etc)

  2) Reduce Parry chances while under the effects of HLD

  3) Spells cast while Parrying an attack are interrupted, damage from attack skill mitigated.

  -Evasion should probably also be effected, but there are already ways to interrupt spells to one under the effects of evade, just no reliable, weapon-based interruptions.

  4) Get rid of the passive parry chance, and make parrying a 'use skill', blocking attacks would only be possible during a duration, based on parry skill/dex    -Bushido spells which proc on parried attacks would auto-trigger parry 'use skill'. (separate cooldowns)

  5) make shields disarm-able  (I don't like this much, but it's an option better than leaving it alone).

 Edit- 6) Allow blocked attacks to still trigger any hit-spell effects of the weapon that was parried.

  Oh, and Glenda + Shieldbash shouldn't trigger bonebreaker...  if that's intended, why did they nerf less powerful things to stack bonebreaker with?

I think the block percentage is fine given the amount of deckers spamming and the sdi nerfs over the years. But I think we’ve had this discussion years ago. If I recall your biggest issue was it was the “stacking” with wrestling for a 67.5% block/parry chance.  Moving it to 20% would give an overall 60% block/parry which essentially worthless for 120 skill points.  And playing a mage you can’t survive with 50% weapon alone.

2) makes sense to me

3) pass on this, blocking a shot every 2 seconds would essentially guarantee the demise of mage PvP.  You’d never be able to cast.

4) I don’t hate the idea, but what’s the trade off?

5) yeah I’d be okay with this, within reason. 

6). Pass

7). Agree it shouldn’t trigger bone breaker.  Seems like a bug.

Hippo

JackFlashUk said:

I am pretty sure when they first came out they were added to acct so existing house were safe and these became grandfathered

I'm the original (and still current) owner of the Legends Abyss House. I had to drop my Great Lakes house to claim the prize.

Hippo

Smoot said:

JackFlashUk said:

Smoot said:

Welp, i dont have High Seas so i guess no spring content for me.   

Best expansion/booster ever, GET IT. you are really missing out of great content!

not for me.  boats are just too clunky.  can barely even see what your doing in in classic client. 

I play only in CC. I have an Orc ship on 6 shards and only use the bow gun - no broadsides. The orc ship I find is vey maneuverable and it does the most damage. 

Hippo

Phreak said:

I am so glad you stopped by and told me that Trismegistos.  It seems that there has been a mistake.  I applied for the Great Lakes house last week and on Monday received an email from Mesanna that I had won.  I let her know that I would be working this week so she took my account name and character name to transfer the house for me.  It appears that I was given the Lake Superior house on accident.  I did not even know there was a contest for LS until you mentioned this house to me.  After further review it looks like the LS signup is still active.  I have emailed to let her know. 

Congrats on the win! I hope you make the house public access

Hippo

username said:

JackFlashUk said:

Best expansion/booster ever, GET IT. you are really missing out of great content!

Is there a guide anywhere on boats and how to do everything related to the spring event?

• Battle pirates
• plunderbeacons
• ransack ship cargo
• dig up treasure chests (in the sea? MIB/SOS?)
• fish up treasures from the deep (nets?)
• try your mettle against a pirate brawl

As someone who hasn't really touched a boat in 10+ years this is all another language to me. 

uo-cah.com has excellent video and section on ships/naval combat.

CovenantX

Oreogl said:

CovenantX said:

Oreogl said:

CovenantX said:

I hope the pvp updates is only a partial list... if not, it's incredibly disappointing that Parry isn't touched at all.   -the most obvious thing in UO (only second, to cheats) and it's going to be at least another 4-6 months before it even has another chance to be ignored again?

What would they touch with party?

  There are a number of things they could do to parry to keep it relevant and not be the dumbest garbage in the game.. aside from unpunished cheating of course.

  Just a few options to change Parry.  -obviously, the passive stuff could stay the way it is in Pvm

  1) Make it harder (an actual sacrifice) for Mages to use it.  reduce maximum block chance down from 35% to 20%  (chances can still be slightly increased with mastery activation etc)

  2) Reduce Parry chances while under the effects of HLD

  3) Spells cast while Parrying an attack are interrupted, damage from attack skill mitigated.

  -Evasion should probably also be effected, but there are already ways to interrupt spells to one under the effects of evade, just no reliable, weapon-based interruptions.

  4) Get rid of the passive parry chance, and make parrying a 'use skill', blocking attacks would only be possible during a duration, based on parry skill/dex    -Bushido spells which proc on parried attacks would auto-trigger parry 'use skill'. (separate cooldowns)

  5) make shields disarm-able  (I don't like this much, but it's an option better than leaving it alone).

 Edit- 6) Allow blocked attacks to still trigger any hit-spell effects of the weapon that was parried.

  Oh, and Glenda + Shieldbash shouldn't trigger bonebreaker...  if that's intended, why did they nerf less powerful things to stack bonebreaker with?

I think the block percentage is fine given the amount of deckers spamming and the sdi nerfs over the years. But I think we’ve had this discussion years ago. If I recall your biggest issue was it was the “stacking” with wrestling for a 67.5% block/parry chance.  Moving it to 20% would give an overall 60% block/parry which essentially worthless for 120 skill points.  And playing a mage you can’t survive with 50% weapon alone.

2) makes sense to me

3) pass on this, blocking a shot every 2 seconds would essentially guarantee the demise of mage PvP.  You’d never be able to cast.

4) I don’t hate the idea, but what’s the trade off?

5) yeah I’d be okay with this, within reason. 

6). Pass

7). Agree it shouldn’t trigger bone breaker.  Seems like a bug.

 The SDI nerfs have nothing to do with parry,    I'd be in favor of SDI coming back, if parry is nerfed so it's no longer the best skill in the game,  the only players I ever see without parry are Melee Dexers and Archers. (oddly enough, parry and archery are not compatible)

   2) This should happen anyway. (HLD affecting Parry chance as it does DCI) 

   3) & 6) are similar, except 6, would only have the attackers % hitspell chance of causing spell interruption (and it's damage) vs a successful parry.

Finally 7) I just through that in there because it requires parry to do shield-bash ~70 damage+para... I'd say it's a bug too, one that's been reported what feels like forever ago, and SOMEHOW that didn't even make it into the "PvP Updates".... again.

 Another option could be to change the base parry chances, and have the attacks they block be categorized as Melee / Ranged,   so Parry (with a shield) for example could have block chances like

Shield = Melee block 20% / Ranged block 35% .

1-h melee weapon = melee block 30% / ranged block 20%

2-h melee weapon = melee block 25% / ranged block 30%

(just estimates)

the objective is to make Parry-mages not godmode vs melee...(cause it might as well be, currently) and against archery/throwing, it's 'fair' because of their ability to 'swing' their weapons more than once due to their range, in order for them to benefit from max attack speed.

Oreogl

It’s been this way for a while based on my PVP experience, but generally the only way to remotely survive in group PVP is parry as it is playing a mage.  I wouldn’t say it’s anywhere near God mode.  Evasion though, I feel, should be nerfed in PvP altogether.

most of the time it’s the garg dismount spam and you’re swarmed even with parry.  It’s annoying.

It’s why I stopped pvping, along with 3rd party programs that essentially play for you and abuse the game mechanics. 

CovenantX

Oreogl said:

It’s been this way for a while based on my PVP experience, but generally the only way to remotely survive in group PVP is parry as it is playing a mage.  I wouldn’t say it’s anywhere near God mode.  Evasion though, I feel, should be nerfed in PvP altogether.

    I'm referring to one vs one fights,   a parry-mage basically has god-mode in that instance against any dexer, particularly melee..

 Group fights, generally you need to run...until you can pick parts of the group off.

  I'm not worried about evasion, you can still interrupt mages while their under the effects of evasion,  and they're still disarm-able as a weakness to dexers (even though they can parry the disarm)   -plus you can see and/or hear, when evasion gets activated so you should know when not to waste mana on damaging spells while you know evade is still active, and spells don't just get blocked 35% of the time, passively just for having the skill.

 

AtomicBetty

You can't worry about one versus one fights lol.

MMO's can't be balanced around that.

Oreogl

AtomicBetty said:

You can't worry about one versus one fights lol.

MMO's can't be balanced around that.

This is it right here.  You can’t balance a whole dynamic based on a one v one.

One vs one is incredibly rare, unless you’re specifically dueling.  Which in most cases they just spam DP, splinter, and or bleed which is effective.

Oreogl

CovenantX said:

Oreogl said:

It’s been this way for a while based on my PVP experience, but generally the only way to remotely survive in group PVP is parry as it is playing a mage.  I wouldn’t say it’s anywhere near God mode.  Evasion though, I feel, should be nerfed in PvP altogether.

    I'm referring to one vs one fights,   a parry-mage basically has god-mode in that instance against any dexer, particularly melee..

 Group fights, generally you need to run...until you can pick parts of the group off.

  I'm not worried about evasion, you can still interrupt mages while their under the effects of evasion,  and they're still disarm-able as a weakness to dexers (even though they can parry the disarm)   -plus you can see and/or hear, when evasion gets activated so you should know when not to waste mana on damaging spells while you know evade is still active, and spells don't just get blocked 35% of the time, passively just for having the skill.

 

Parry isnt really going to be 35%.  If you’re only running parry you’re gonna get wrecked pretty hard.  Realistically it’s 17.5% after weapon skill, mage weapon, or wrestling. The trade off is the SDI nerf mages get for having parry.

CovenantX

Oreogl said:

AtomicBetty said:

You can't worry about one versus one fights lol.

MMO's can't be balanced around that.

This is it right here.  You can’t balance a whole dynamic based on a one v one.

One vs one is incredibly rare, unless you’re specifically dueling.  Which in most cases they just spam DP, splinter, and or bleed which is effective.

  You can't balance pvp based around one vs one fights?  That's the problem it hasn't been.

I can't blame you for thinking that, there are very few one vs one fights left in UO. especially when the cheats do much of the gameplay for most of the players left... anyway.

There's always something based around group pvp mostly survival/defensive, Parry/evade (mages only) the first time it was ''nerfed" (It was completely taken away from mages, only added a cooldown to Evasion for anything else that could use it)....   you know, back when nerve-mages were king the first time?   that was during the SSI bug too. (though not exclusive to dexers)   disarm didn't have an immunity timer back then either, it does now.  which makes evade/parry mages even better today, vs dexers the first time they were 'OP'.... 

  Those 'dueling rules' sound like field fighting to me.  normally duels would remove as much RNG from the fight as possible, that's always been the point of a duel, to see who is better,, not who is luckier.... anyway, not what I'm referring to  Parry doesn't have an effect on proper mage dueling anyway so it's irrelevant to the point I'm making.

CovenantX

Oreogl said:

CovenantX said:

Oreogl said:

It’s been this way for a while based on my PVP experience, but generally the only way to remotely survive in group PVP is parry as it is playing a mage.  I wouldn’t say it’s anywhere near God mode.  Evasion though, I feel, should be nerfed in PvP altogether.

    I'm referring to one vs one fights,   a parry-mage basically has god-mode in that instance against any dexer, particularly melee..

 Group fights, generally you need to run...until you can pick parts of the group off.

  I'm not worried about evasion, you can still interrupt mages while their under the effects of evasion,  and they're still disarm-able as a weakness to dexers (even though they can parry the disarm)   -plus you can see and/or hear, when evasion gets activated so you should know when not to waste mana on damaging spells while you know evade is still active, and spells don't just get blocked 35% of the time, passively just for having the skill.

 

Parry isnt really going to be 35%.  If you’re only running parry you’re gonna get wrecked pretty hard.  Realistically it’s 17.5% after weapon skill, mage weapon, or wrestling. The trade off is the SDI nerf mages get for having parry.

   You mean, parry would never be less than 35% (if you're 120.0 Parry and meet the 80 dex requirement), the only reason it SEEMS less, is because DCI/Dodge chance, is checked first....   so you'll see your parry rate is less.

 

    even if you run with 0 weapon skill, you'll still dodge 1/20 attacks, parry would still have a 35% chance to block on it's own.

 

   the 17.5% you're talking about is the average amount of Extra attacks you're not taking damage from, beyond just your defensive weapon skill.

Grimbeard

More pvp discussion here than in the pvp discussion thread..

Lord_Frodo

Hopefully @Kyronix is reading both.

CovenantX

Grimbeard said:

More pvp discussion here than in the pvp discussion thread..

There's so many little things that could be changed it's ridiculous the devs only want to discuss the very small amount in the notes as it relates to pvp.

 TBH, the evasion diminishing returns won't even be noticeable in the normal course of pvp, it only effects a few spells/potions...    Wither, for example...  not many people are going to be close enough to you to even be hit by wither, while they're evading, since they'd normally be running at that time anyway.

Mystics- use hailstorm fairly often, it's a fine combo spell,

conflag/super nova pots, surely are the most universally used attack that'll proc higher dr's to evasion... yea, won't really be noticeable.

Pawain

Grimbeard said:

More pvp discussion here than in the pvp discussion thread..

I remember when we were told by a self proclaimed PvP God that adding the mortal icon would fix PvP.  They did it so it must be fixed now.

And he only wants specific input in that thread.  They had a chance to give feedback in the original discussion thread. They chose what they wanted to change from that input.

CovenantX

yea, a lot of difference that made, right?   I mean, it's not like you can't tell when you're unable to move or anything.... a debuff icon (nerve strike) for an effect that lasts less than 2 seconds to begin with.  If the devs keep listening to the cheaters, it's only going to make the game worse.

edit:  but at the same time, the pool of players left especially in pvp, is smaller than ever if they're looking for feedback on these forums, from people who aren't spoiled by the use of cheat program's help.  so.... enforce the f**king ToS already.

Pawain

CovenantX said:

yea, a lot of difference that made, right?   I mean, it's not like you can't tell when you're unable to move or anything.... a debuff icon (nerve strike) for an effect that lasts less than 2 seconds to begin with.  If the devs keep listening to the cheaters, it's only going to make the game worse.

edit:  but at the same time, the pool of players left especially in pvp, is smaller than ever if they're looking for feedback on these forums, from people who aren't spoiled by the use of cheat program's help.  so.... enforce the f**king ToS already.

When Kyronix has new things on TC you can often find him there in Brit commons, and he will answer chat.  You can email him.  Most changes are done thru emails to Grimbeards chagrin.

keven2002

CovenantX said:

You can't balance pvp based around one vs one fights?  That's the problem it hasn't been.

I can't blame you for thinking that, there are very few one vs one fights left in UO. especially when the cheats do much of the gameplay for most of the players left... anyway.

^^ This ^^

I agree with you. I used to love PvP because it took some skill / practice to get good at (at the time I was playing UO a ton so I had the practice lol). I remember sparring / dueling all the time just for practice; the winner would rez the loser and there was mutual respect. It would even be the case that if someone tried to jump in the 1 on 1 that the other person would stop fighting completely or both people dueling would gank the person interrupting the fight. Good times.

Even when people were using like the T1 connections from schools and were faster, having a strategy or being able to think on the fly would still keep someone in the fight.

At some point that all changed. They introduce dueling arena's (which actually seem like a pretty cool idea) for sanctioned fights but I'm guessing that's because somewhere along the line people lost honor and couldn't be trusted to be honest. I think also along with that came the scripting from some of those same dishonorable people. It took all the skill out out of PvP and it became my script vs your script which I guess become less strategic so now you need group battles to call out who to focus on.

Now all I see is the trash talk in Gen Chat about people dodging 1 on 1 and arguing about who won and who had the numbers. It's enough to make me turn off GenChat half the time (or place people on ignore if it's only 1 or 2).

Making changes based on 1 on 1 vs group fighting in the grand scheme won't fix toxicity that has become UO PvP. I just hope that the changes don't spill over into PvM (like evade did several years ago).

Trismegistos

On Great Lakes you can send the new owner of the Abyss house a request for placing a teleporter.