Hook's Shield: Love the 10% SDI and the +1 faster casting. I would change the Fire Resist to Physical Resist to counter the -10 from the Protection Spell. I would also change the Poison Resist to a +3 mana regen and a +7 mana bonus
I thought of the phy resist also but it has FC +1, so you should not use protection with this item.
Mana Bonus would be better. IMO I would not need the DCI. Unless your mage has parry, you wont benefit from DCI.
I would rather have a shield where I use all the properties.
Hook's Shield: Love the 10% SDI and the +1 faster casting. I would change the Fire Resist to Physical Resist to counter the -10 from the Protection Spell. I would also change the Poison Resist to a +3 mana regen and a +7 mana bonus
I thought of the phy resist also but it has FC +1, so you should not use protection with this item.
Mana Bonus would be better. IMO I would not need the DCI. Unless your mage has parry, you wont benefit from DCI.
I would rather have a shield where I use all the properties.
I feel like every mage item has MR or +Mana. I think strength or HPI could use some love on mage items. Mages can use those too.
I was popping some more coconuts in the small tiny stone tower I placed between Moonglow's Moongate and the town. I placed the coconut on the roof to lock down and it fell through the floor.
When the new pirate chest is open, and the container gump is closed, if you click on the gold pile you cannot open the container gump. You must click on the chest itself, not the gold.
@ kyronix this is what i was referring to earlier today.
This is working as intended, only the chest itself is the actual container. The gold that sits atop is a separate decorative object.
Hook's Shield: Love the 10% SDI and the +1 faster casting. I would change the Fire Resist to Physical Resist to counter the -10 from the Protection Spell. I would also change the Poison Resist to a +3 mana regen and a +7 mana bonus
I thought of the phy resist also but it has FC +1, so you should not use protection with this item.
Mana Bonus would be better. IMO I would not need the DCI. Unless your mage has parry, you wont benefit from DCI.
I would rather have a shield where I use all the properties.
With a +1 FC on the shield it would bring my pre-protection FC to 4 and after protection FC to 2. I am already at 7 FCR so don't need any more of that.
Within the Black Market Rewards listed in the Full Publish Notes, there is not shown the "Hook's Treasure Map" which does is one of the new rewards (150,000 points...).
What gives ?
it wasn't supposed to be on there.
How do you know ?
And why wouldn't a cool, NEW and intriguing Treasure Map not want to be on a Pirate's "Black Market" list of items that he sells ?
The Movies are FULL of Pirates wanting to sell a Pirate Map to a nice, juicy Treasure.... the Black Market, is actually "THE" place for that Map to be....
Besides, it did was priced at 150,000 Doubloons so, I need to understand, it did was intended to be there, and had a price for it set too.....
As a player who loves and enjoys Treasure Hunting, I am truly holding my breath and crossing my fingers that this Map anticipates a lot of cool and fun new content for Treasure Hunting .....
@ popps why not? Because bane dragons are overcapped legacy creatures. Why should they be repeated? Thats like saying they should bring back every creature thats ever been in the game, whether it was weaker or stronger in its legacy form.
Its okay to have things that are rarer, that not everyone has. Its what makes this game interesting.
As for its training no it cant compare to a legacy monster. Just as new mares cant compare to legacy mares.
I need to disagree on such "exclusiveness"....
This is what keeps away from Ultima Online new or returning players when they see that they cannot have good and usefull items (or pets in this case), that Veteran players have and use...
In a competitive game, anything which gives an "edge" but can no longer be obtained works AGAINST facilitating the introduction of new or returning players because they simply cannot get those items any more...
This is why we started seeing [Replica] items, and that has been great, and this is why this Ostard whould basically be a Bane Dragon clone in a different skin, if we want to preserve to "exclusive" looks of the Bane Dragon but certainly not his effectiveness....
Basically, what was done with items where the new ones are just the same, in effectiveness, but carry the [Replica] tag on them to at least differentiate them from the older ones, visually.
To my opinion, this Wildfire Ostard should be the same.... a Bane Dragon with a different look but, still, a Bane Dragon in full in what it can do and as far as trainable options and points go...
And Ive popped about 10 of these now, the intensity range is quite extensive. The best one i got i was able to get full resists, 2 abilities. Some decent stats and 110 scrolls.
This another problem, and quite a major one in a "Time Limited Event", to my opinion....
If the Intensity Range is quite extensive, as you say, this means that, given the RNG that we all know, it might take to a player lots, but I really mean LOTS of these before they can get the 1 that they really like and want to keep....
With the Tritons, for example, there is players who had to get close to 100 of these before they finally got that one which they really considered a "keeper"....
We do not know how hard or easy it will be to get this Ostard BUT, if the Intensity Range will be so much extensive, I say that it should be very easy to get, considering that then players will have to get tens upon tens upon tens of them before they finally get that 1 single good one that they can keep....
Again, it is counter productive for the better sake of Ultima Online as a whole, to have good items or pets or whatever remain "exclusive" to a limited set of players because this, prevent new or returning players to want to "join in"...
At some point the Event will be over and so will be the spawn of these Ostards... if only a limited set of players will have by then gotten the "good ones" and all the rest of players would only have gotten "sub par" ones, this is not going to be good for UO as a whole, because a limited number of players will be able to sport a pet that others cannot match and have no way to keep trying to get one as the spawn for the Ostards is no longer active...
Not good for UO, not good at all..... exclusiveness might be a cool thing for those who have it, but certainly it is not for all the others who don't....
And when those who don't are a much larger majority as those who do have such exclusiveness, this is when players start quitting playing a game and that game loses players' base...
To my opinion, it should be #1 priority of Developers to KILL exclusiveness, not promote it...
New/Returning Players need to be able to "catch up" with Veteran players and, this, in a reasonable time, always, me thinks.
Re: the slots on the Ostard, in order for this to become a 3 slot pet we have to drop its stats down somewhere. So far I've seen discussion around dropping HP and/or STR. Looking forward to the feedback from the community.
The point of making it a 3 slots would be, to then be able, with 2 rounds of training, to have enough points to then truly bring it on par with a trained up, 5 slots Bane Dragon...
If you are going to drop stats "too much" to bring the Ostard down to 3 slots, so much down that the extra gained level will only take it up to what it spawns now as a 4 slots, what would be the point ?
We would be back to where we are now, wouldn't we be ?
It would still be a 3 slot Ostard which, even when fully trained up to 5 slots, would STILL be nowhere comparable to the effectiveness and efficiency of a fully trained 5 slots Bane Dragon...
So, is my opinion, whatever stats you take down to make it a 3 slots, it would need to be LESS, and significantly LESS of what can be gained with the extra level of training gained, so that, in the end, the fully trained 5 slots Ostard would then yes, be able to fully compare to a 5 slots fully trained up Bane Dragon....
I hope I was able to well explain my thinking here....
Re: the slots on the Ostard, in order for this to become a 3 slot pet we have to drop its stats down somewhere. So far I've seen discussion around dropping HP and/or STR. Looking forward to the feedback from the community.
Get rid of the Magery and Eval. If you drop the HP or Str we would have to use all the points on the first round to get those back.
Right now they have similar HP/Str as a Cu or Hiryu at 3 slots! If you drop them we would have to make up for that.
A Bane has the same stats and is 3 slots. Why cant they be the same?
Yeah, absolutely....
It makes no sense whatsoever to drop stats which would then take most if not all of those extra level 1,500 to bring it back to 4 slots to where it is now.... where would the gain be ?
i think the starting thinking point should be, OK, we want a fully trained 5 slots Ostard to be fully comparable and matching a fully trained 5 slots Bane Dragon so, what stats should it have as a 3 slots training pet to then be able, in 2 rounds of training, to become a fully comparable and matching pet to a fully trained 5 slots Bane Dragon ?
And the answer to this would be what a 3 slots starting Ostard should look like in its stats.... me thinks....
Some reflections on what I think is great, and what could be improved.
1. The peculiar coconut palm trees look excellent! Fine attention to detail.
2. Hook's Shield:
a. Loving the Spell Channeling & +10 SDI !!!
b. Personally, I would much prefer Faster Cast Recovery instead of Faster Casting on the shield, here's why: for many spellcasters it's often optimal to activate the Protection spell, which cancels out Faster Casting. -- A lot of players, myself included, would probably want to swap the Vesper Museum Chaos shield for this, and most the value (for players like me) of the Vesper shield is the +2 FCR. -- If you're trying to keep it distinct from the function of the Vesper shield, maybe just make it 1 FCR. Though I certainly wouldn't complain if it had both FC & FCR.
b. Defense Chance Increase is usually sought by a spellcaster when he or she is a melee mage (which let's be honest, is rare in PvM) or PvP mage, which then cancels out the whole point of having FCR on it, because it's quite likely that either of these types of mages would want to run Protection so that their spells are casted uninterrupted. The vast majority of spellcasters do PvM, and from a ranged distance, usually behind pets or meat shield players, but of course there will be somewhat of a market for the shield to have DCI on it (I'm somewhat ambivalent about leaving the DCI on, but I'm not excited by it).
c. Why Resistance buffs here, when most players will get those resistances easily met through their suits? Feels like a huge waste of a few property slots. If you did feel it was completely necessary to keep one resistance on it, I'd be much more excited about it being physical resist, as it would help with compensating for the decrease in Phys. Res. from the Protection spell.
d. Properties instead of DCI or Resistances: something really tasty like: (1) more Int./mana or STR/HP, (2) more mana or HP regeneration, (3) damage eater property, (4) substantial Casting Focus % [like 10%!] (5) 10-20 Resisting Spells [as that's almost universally desired for spell casters].
3. Spellbook / Runebook Straps
a. Fantastic idea, generally well received from anyone I've spoken to.
b. As it stands now, they aren't named "spellbook" strap or "runebook," strap and this may create a lot of confusion and havoc for people wanting to buy these on vendor search without prior experience using them on TC1. Withholding that information in the title and just requiring players to know its function based on color feels a bit shortsighted and will create some frustrations.
c. Please, please, please make it so that after you disarm a spellbook it goes back directly into the spellbook strap from whence it came. As you are well aware a mage may toggle between several slayer spellbooks in a given context. How nice would it be to just have those spellbooks go neatly back into the strap without having to always manually put it back? [maybe there's some fancy way to get this to happen using macros or something that I'm not aware of]
d. Can melee characters get a version of this for weapons someday? How nice too, to have a weight reduction in that case. Most PvM melee characters carry an assortment of slayers too.
4. Ostard
Echoing others.. 3 slots would be best. Also would be nicer to get to chose magery instead of being stuck with it.
5. Someday... a mage staff that mages would actually want to use! Something comparable to holding a 50 SDI spellbook and Vesper Chaos shield. (Spell channeling, high SDI, FC/FCR, MR, etc.) - Or better yet, a means of converting spellbooks into a one-handed staff or a two-handed staff + some extra stats.
Thanks devs for all that you do, and continuing to try to improve the game and give us more things to collect. I'd love to hear what others think - whether agree or disagree. (hopefully this reaches @ Kyronix and/or @ Mesanna)
As in regards to the Hook's Shield, it could come with "optionable" properties for Faster Casting and Faster Cast Recovery as well as for Defence Chance Increase which could have other alternatives for players to pick instead.
Like for example is the Katalkotl's Ring whereas players can select among various skills the one they want to have that ring to have to better fit their needs....
Hook's Shield: Love the 10% SDI and the +1 faster casting. I would change the Fire Resist to Physical Resist to counter the -10 from the Protection Spell. I would also change the Poison Resist to a +3 mana regen and a +7 mana bonus
I thought of the phy resist also but it has FC +1, so you should not use protection with this item.
Mana Bonus would be better. IMO I would not need the DCI. Unless your mage has parry, you wont benefit from DCI.
I would rather have a shield where I use all the properties.
"What does parrying have to do with DCI?"-+-
Posts on this account have been pre filtered from personal comment or opinion in an effort to suppress conservative views in order to protect the reader.
First of all, great publish, so many good things in there, you have clearly been keeping in touch and working away in the background. The ability I think to transmog 3 character slot items in total now is pretty amazing. The shield has nice graphics.
This shield is a really nice shield, again, I feel you listened re the issues Mages have with shields, and having an SDI slot there is fantastic, this will fit into my Main Mage PvM suit really nicely.
I would like to say, and I notice others have also, which is great, because it means more of us think the same thing - Resists are too easy to get on suits - we get too many - we have no issues clocking up 110 in all resists, when the cap is 70 to 80. So you adding 10 fire and poison resist to this shield, feels like a bit of an afterthought, as if you have a few weighting points to use up, and are not sure where to put them. Also - why those 2 resists? Being generous on those 2 resists, means it is hard to then rebalance for the other 3 resists in other places. They are fairly pointless here - this shield is great for the other 4/5 slots, no complaints at all, it could be even better! for the same amount of weighting points, if you took off the resists, and put on a statistic like Strength. Intelligence or Mana Regen, or HP Regen.
The reason for this, is Mages really struggle to get STR on their items, which helps build towards the 150 HP maximum. To achieve 150 HP you need 25 Str + 25 HPI + 125 base stats. Which is very hard to come by on a mage suit.
MR - you can use about 30 in, although PvM mages usually have Meditation, so don't need so much, but PvP mages do need it.
Intelligence could be really useful for a PvM mage - again aiming for the 150 Int cap, to get the SDI Bonus there, and having more mana on a mage is always a good thing. On a PvM mage, I like to go 200 Mana and 150 Int.
HP Regen, again, nice to aim for the 19 cap, and a really nice one to have going in the background.
So my point really is - please take off the Resist, which in the balance of suits, is pointless to most players I believe, and any amount at all, towards one of those other Properties would help.
Please do not take off the resist on the shield but instead make it random resists so physical has a chance to be on there and keep the fast cast for sure.
The people saying they don't need resists are not playing max sdi pvm mages. Unless they don't care about all 70s or are putting resists on jewels.
So - onto the shield again, there is a part 2 in my thinking.
It is a great shield, really nice for pvm mage sdi suits - my main SW Mage will love it, but also really nice for pvp mages who don't use parry.
I'd still like to propose a future parry mage style shield - maybe as a future VvV reward or something. I guess this shield is really a bit more tailored for pure pvp parry mages.
Spell Channeling
Defence Chance Increase 15%
Reactive Paralyse
Soul Charge 30%
If Spare - STR any amount.
The reasoning here is as follows. If you are a mage, you basically need SC/0FC on a shield, you just cannot do without them clearly. The DCI is what compliments and helps a Parry mage get their total DCI to the 45%. Reactive Paralyse is basically perfectly suited to a Parrier, if you have gone to the effort of getting the Parry skill, it is a waste not to compliment Parry with Reactive Paralyse, and a real must have v the Warriors, Banes and Dismounters I fight non stop. Parry Mages have real real mana issues (and Damage issues), for starters, they've usually had to sacrifice Meditation, and secondly the 80+ Dex requirement to use the Parry to full effect really sucks out their Intelligence required for Mana. So Soul Charge 30% is really vital. At that point, I would be really happy - however, if there are any points left over - STR (or HPR)would be the one to have, to help reach the 150 HP Cap which again is vital in PvP. PvP Parry mages can only use 20% SDI, we can get that elsewhere maybe.
And a future Warrior PvP Parry Shield.
SSI 10%
Defence Chance Increase 15%
Reactive Paralyse
Soul Charge 30%
If Spare - Dex.
For my Parry warriors, used in both pvm and pvp, these stats would be amazing on a shield. SSI and Dex - both being used to help reach the max swing caps. Then the other 3 properties are what basically compliment a character with Parry skill the best.
I understand these Shields are maybe not as Universal as say the one you have released with the patch - but maybe they could be a future VvV reward. Although whilst the Mage one is really for a PvP parry mage, I feel the warrior one in my case, could be used universally. I alreay try to find such shields, and have so many to try and get hold of.
Please do not take off the resist on the shield but instead make it random resists so physical has a chance to be on there and keep the fast cast for sure.
The people saying they don't need resists are not playing max sdi pvm mages. Unless they don't care about all 70s or are putting resists on jewels.
Hmm - I am pretty much there? I'd be interested to see your suit design? This is mine. I'm mid making an adjustment to fit Cuffs of the Archmage in, but this will work fine. Blue is where I have achieved SDI max, and green is where I'm balancing the suit. The Shield will fit in nicely. Yes - I'm putting resists on Jewels - my Bracelet is a Balancing item. I need to update this spreadsheet a bit, I've not put the rest of the Deceit spellbook properties on. Hook's Shield will require an adjustment to jewels, as will the Cuffs - but good for me to do both together. I'm already in territory of needing to reduce a few things, LMC, Fire resist, poison resist, FC even - but in general I love this suit for pvm on my mage spellweaver.
Really curious how you guys make up for lack of resists on the sdi necklace without resists on a shield. Maybe I am missing something.
To be fair - I do get your point. The answer is yes, I made up for it on the jewels.
End of the day, I guess I would just rebalance the jewels again, but as you can see, the shield will take my Fire Resist to 97. I'm also overclocked on INT, what I need to do, is update the spreadsheet a bit
I've rebuilt the SDI suit spreadsheet, with Cuffs of the Archmage, and Hook's Shield included.
This shows a typical SDI suit with most Max SDI items included, and using Jewels to balance.
I think it shows the Poison Resist could stay - I will adjusting it out of my Jewels to counter balance what is on the Shield.
I think it shows we clearly go above on Fire Resist - I am hitting 93 Fire Resist - it could actually go into Physical Resist for better balance. It's the Kelp Leggings, with only 5 Physical Resist, that make you need 10 Physical Resist to be made up on Jewels.
I am also on 5 FC instead of 2 FC - but again can adjust downwards on my Jewels by 2.
5 DCI needs to be added for me, but that is a personal set-up thing on Jewels.
I will amend my Previous comment, maybe it does not need any adjustment, lol. If it did, it's maybe just the Fire Resist going into Physical Resist - which would allow me to take Physical Resist off the Ring, for something else.
I am at Bucs now, it only has the medallion, coconut, could not find the Hook's shield, new pirate shield recipe, chest and orchids, and only one of the new titles is available.
If it ain't broke, don't fix it. ESRB warning: Some Blood. LOTS of Alcohol. Some Violence. LOTS of Bugs
Within the Black Market Rewards listed in the Full Publish Notes, there is not shown the "Hook's Treasure Map" which does is one of the new rewards (150,000 points...).
What gives ?
it wasn't supposed to be on there.
How do you know ?
And why wouldn't a cool, NEW and intriguing Treasure Map not want to be on a Pirate's "Black Market" list of items that he sells ?
The Movies are FULL of Pirates wanting to sell a Pirate Map to a nice, juicy Treasure.... the Black Market, is actually "THE" place for that Map to be....
Besides, it did was priced at 150,000 Doubloons so, I need to understand, it did was intended to be there, and had a price for it set too.....
As a player who loves and enjoys Treasure Hunting, I am truly holding my breath and crossing my fingers that this Map anticipates a lot of cool and fun new content for Treasure Hunting .....
Yeah !!!
Kyronix said on TC that it wasn't supposed to be there. so its basically a teaser for us right now. all that was said about it, is that it will be the start of a quest.
(in my opinion, I think it was put on the wrong list, just like the first aid belt was put on the dynamic event list instead of the dynamic champ list. So for now, we have a spoiler)
I am not sure whether what that Poster says (i.e. that Pack Instinct also works for pets with pack instinct who belong to different Tamers but all in the same Party...) but this is not relevant for the sake of the discussion because, if it is, then it's OK, this Ostard could still be usefull as a 4 only, it would need to be used together with other Pack Instinct pets in the same Party (even moreso as a 3 slotter)... and if it is not, well, then the Developers could make it possible and, thus, allow Pack Instinct to work for Pets owned by different Tamers but all in the same one Party....
Of course, training the pet to 5 slot would get the pet to forcedly loose the Pack Instinct....
So, it could be a viable thing which could still make this Ostard be appreciated as a 4 slotter (even moreso as a 3 slotter) "if", it was to be used in a group, together with other Tamers all partied up....
Which it is, to my understanding, what the Developers want, to have players play up in groups, with fellow players.... and this would actually promote Tamers to want to group up for their hunts...
This could make the Ostard a nice pet to have, thanking to the Pack Instinct, whether a 3 or 4 slotter....
Hook's Shield: Love the 10% SDI and the +1 faster casting. I would change the Fire Resist to Physical Resist to counter the -10 from the Protection Spell. I would also change the Poison Resist to a +3 mana regen and a +7 mana bonus
I thought of the phy resist also but it has FC +1, so you should not use protection with this item.
Mana Bonus would be better. IMO I would not need the DCI. Unless your mage has parry, you wont benefit from DCI.
I would rather have a shield where I use all the properties.
"What does parrying have to do with DCI?"-+-
Ask Mervyn how the 2 interact.
Edit: Maybe its Wrestling needed. He told me I need a skill to make DCI work well.
Bad: The pirate chest does not look as good as the other uo store item (large chest).
Neutral: When double click inside fullpack, the graphics show an empty chest. When double click after secure lock down, graphics show full of treasure.
@ Kyronix Don't invalidate banes. People spent a lot of time and effort to get these.
Pre-patch pets have a niche in this game.
Ostards should have a different niche, not just be carbon copies of previous content.
I don't agree to this. If so, should the Dev bring back SDI 50 spellbooks, Lieutenant sash (replica), etc. There is no such rule. Btw, I sold off my Bane without knowing that one day there would be a replacement. No big deal.
If it ain't broke, don't fix it. ESRB warning: Some Blood. LOTS of Alcohol. Some Violence. LOTS of Bugs
@Kyronix The book straps would be a lot better suited as something to be locked down in a house. That would store your runebooks and spellbooks, and only count as 1 lockdown (with hopefully the capacity to hold 300 books, AND sortable). THAT would be a solid use of a vet reward! As it is now, I really can't see many people bothering with them. Even if the problem with the casting is fixed.
If you sell UO items for R.L. $$$, you need to quit playing UO , and get a BETTER R.L. JOB!
@ Kyronix Don't invalidate banes. People spent a lot of time and effort to get these.
Pre-patch pets have a niche in this game.
Ostards should have a different niche, not just be carbon copies of previous content.
I don't agree to this. If so, should the Dev brought back SDI 50 spellbooks, Lieutenant sash (replica), etc. There is no such rule. Btw, I sold off my Bane without knowing that one day there would be a replacement. No big deal.
There are only so many castle plots in this game.
Capitalism has always been strong in this game.
Replica items have tradeoffs as not being "genuine". Rare collectors still pay top money for non-replica.
Every generation has its OP item, and you can get new OP items that has its own niche without re-skinning old stuff.
@ Kyronix Don't invalidate banes. People spent a lot of time and effort to get these.
Pre-patch pets have a niche in this game.
Ostards should have a different niche, not just be carbon copies of previous content.
I don't agree to this. If so, should the Dev brought back SDI 50 spellbooks, Lieutenant sash (replica), etc. There is no such rule. Btw, I sold off my Bane without knowing that one day there would be a replacement. No big deal.
There are only so many castle plots in this game.
Capitalism has always been strong in this game.
Replica items have tradeoffs as not being "genuine". Rare collectors still pay top money for non-replica.
Every generation has its OP item, and you can get new OP items that has its own niche without re-skinning old stuff.
Agreed. Keep old items viable and rare. It's what makes UO different from other games. New items could do new things and one day become rare too.
@ Kyronix Don't invalidate banes. People spent a lot of time and effort to get these.
Pre-patch pets have a niche in this game.
Ostards should have a different niche, not just be carbon copies of previous content.
To my opinion, the Ostards do not invalidate Bane Dragons... they only make them no longer an exclusive pet...
It is "as if" Bane Dragons spawned again only, under a different "skin"....
And I see nothing wrong with this, it actually is a helpfull thing, overall, for the game, as it permits to newer or returning players or players who where not there when Bane Dragons happened to spawn, to "catch up" with those players who got them....
Just like it has happened with the [Replica] items which permitted to more players to be able to take advantage of them and not leave them to be an exclusiveness of a handfull of players who were lucky to have them....
Resolved issue with pet Bane Dragon AI not using mana for abilities
Why ?
Because most Bane owners who already have trained them up, they might (or might not, depends on the case), have left them with low Mana since they were not using it much....
Yet, after the Publish will go live, and their Banes will start using up Mana for their abilities.... well, guess what ? These pets will be a lot less effective if they were trained up with little Mana because they were not using it much "back then"...
Too bad, that now they cannot be "retrained" so, I am afraid, a whole lot of Banes will be quite a lot less effective if, in their training, Mana was neglected and they have no more training points to increase their Mana one way or the other....
This should concern Bane Dragons users a lot more then the new Ostards, me thinks...
Comments
Mana Bonus would be better. IMO I would not need the DCI. Unless your mage has parry, you wont benefit from DCI.
I would rather have a shield where I use all the properties.
I feel like every mage item has MR or +Mana. I think strength or HPI could use some love on mage items. Mages can use those too.
And why wouldn't a cool, NEW and intriguing Treasure Map not want to be on a Pirate's "Black Market" list of items that he sells ?
The Movies are FULL of Pirates wanting to sell a Pirate Map to a nice, juicy Treasure.... the Black Market, is actually "THE" place for that Map to be....
Besides, it did was priced at 150,000 Doubloons so, I need to understand, it did was intended to be there, and had a price for it set too.....
As a player who loves and enjoys Treasure Hunting, I am truly holding my breath and crossing my fingers that this Map anticipates a lot of cool and fun new content for Treasure Hunting .....
Yeah !!!
This is what keeps away from Ultima Online new or returning players when they see that they cannot have good and usefull items (or pets in this case), that Veteran players have and use...
In a competitive game, anything which gives an "edge" but can no longer be obtained works AGAINST facilitating the introduction of new or returning players because they simply cannot get those items any more...
This is why we started seeing [Replica] items, and that has been great, and this is why this Ostard whould basically be a Bane Dragon clone in a different skin, if we want to preserve to "exclusive" looks of the Bane Dragon but certainly not his effectiveness....
Basically, what was done with items where the new ones are just the same, in effectiveness, but carry the [Replica] tag on them to at least differentiate them from the older ones, visually.
To my opinion, this Wildfire Ostard should be the same.... a Bane Dragon with a different look but, still, a Bane Dragon in full in what it can do and as far as trainable options and points go...
This another problem, and quite a major one in a "Time Limited Event", to my opinion....
If the Intensity Range is quite extensive, as you say, this means that, given the RNG that we all know, it might take to a player lots, but I really mean LOTS of these before they can get the 1 that they really like and want to keep....
With the Tritons, for example, there is players who had to get close to 100 of these before they finally got that one which they really considered a "keeper"....
We do not know how hard or easy it will be to get this Ostard BUT, if the Intensity Range will be so much extensive, I say that it should be very easy to get, considering that then players will have to get tens upon tens upon tens of them before they finally get that 1 single good one that they can keep....
Again, it is counter productive for the better sake of Ultima Online as a whole, to have good items or pets or whatever remain "exclusive" to a limited set of players because this, prevent new or returning players to want to "join in"...
At some point the Event will be over and so will be the spawn of these Ostards... if only a limited set of players will have by then gotten the "good ones" and all the rest of players would only have gotten "sub par" ones, this is not going to be good for UO as a whole, because a limited number of players will be able to sport a pet that others cannot match and have no way to keep trying to get one as the spawn for the Ostards is no longer active...
Not good for UO, not good at all..... exclusiveness might be a cool thing for those who have it, but certainly it is not for all the others who don't....
And when those who don't are a much larger majority as those who do have such exclusiveness, this is when players start quitting playing a game and that game loses players' base...
To my opinion, it should be #1 priority of Developers to KILL exclusiveness, not promote it...
New/Returning Players need to be able to "catch up" with Veteran players and, this, in a reasonable time, always, me thinks.
If you are going to drop stats "too much" to bring the Ostard down to 3 slots, so much down that the extra gained level will only take it up to what it spawns now as a 4 slots, what would be the point ?
We would be back to where we are now, wouldn't we be ?
It would still be a 3 slot Ostard which, even when fully trained up to 5 slots, would STILL be nowhere comparable to the effectiveness and efficiency of a fully trained 5 slots Bane Dragon...
So, is my opinion, whatever stats you take down to make it a 3 slots, it would need to be LESS, and significantly LESS of what can be gained with the extra level of training gained, so that, in the end, the fully trained 5 slots Ostard would then yes, be able to fully compare to a 5 slots fully trained up Bane Dragon....
I hope I was able to well explain my thinking here....
It makes no sense whatsoever to drop stats which would then take most if not all of those extra level 1,500 to bring it back to 4 slots to where it is now.... where would the gain be ?
i think the starting thinking point should be, OK, we want a fully trained 5 slots Ostard to be fully comparable and matching a fully trained 5 slots Bane Dragon so, what stats should it have as a 3 slots training pet to then be able, in 2 rounds of training, to become a fully comparable and matching pet to a fully trained 5 slots Bane Dragon ?
And the answer to this would be what a 3 slots starting Ostard should look like in its stats.... me thinks....
Like for example is the Katalkotl's Ring whereas players can select among various skills the one they want to have that ring to have to better fit their needs....
Hi @kyronix, I would like to comment on this.
First of all, great publish, so many good things in there, you have clearly been keeping in touch and working away in the background. The ability I think to transmog 3 character slot items in total now is pretty amazing. The shield has nice graphics.
This shield is a really nice shield, again, I feel you listened re the issues Mages have with shields, and having an SDI slot there is fantastic, this will fit into my Main Mage PvM suit really nicely.
I would like to say, and I notice others have also, which is great, because it means more of us think the same thing - Resists are too easy to get on suits - we get too many - we have no issues clocking up 110 in all resists, when the cap is 70 to 80. So you adding 10 fire and poison resist to this shield, feels like a bit of an afterthought, as if you have a few weighting points to use up, and are not sure where to put them. Also - why those 2 resists? Being generous on those 2 resists, means it is hard to then rebalance for the other 3 resists in other places. They are fairly pointless here - this shield is great for the other 4/5 slots, no complaints at all, it could be even better! for the same amount of weighting points, if you took off the resists, and put on a statistic like Strength. Intelligence or Mana Regen, or HP Regen.
The reason for this, is Mages really struggle to get STR on their items, which helps build towards the 150 HP maximum. To achieve 150 HP you need 25 Str + 25 HPI + 125 base stats. Which is very hard to come by on a mage suit.
MR - you can use about 30 in, although PvM mages usually have Meditation, so don't need so much, but PvP mages do need it.
Intelligence could be really useful for a PvM mage - again aiming for the 150 Int cap, to get the SDI Bonus there, and having more mana on a mage is always a good thing. On a PvM mage, I like to go 200 Mana and 150 Int.
HP Regen, again, nice to aim for the 19 cap, and a really nice one to have going in the background.
So my point really is - please take off the Resist, which in the balance of suits, is pointless to most players I believe, and any amount at all, towards one of those other Properties would help.
Apart from that, Happy Testing everyone,
The people saying they don't need resists are not playing max sdi pvm mages. Unless they don't care about all 70s or are putting resists on jewels.
Hey again @kyronix,
So - onto the shield again, there is a part 2 in my thinking.
It is a great shield, really nice for pvm mage sdi suits - my main SW Mage will love it, but also really nice for pvp mages who don't use parry.
I'd still like to propose a future parry mage style shield - maybe as a future VvV reward or something. I guess this shield is really a bit more tailored for pure pvp parry mages.
The reasoning here is as follows. If you are a mage, you basically need SC/0FC on a shield, you just cannot do without them clearly. The DCI is what compliments and helps a Parry mage get their total DCI to the 45%. Reactive Paralyse is basically perfectly suited to a Parrier, if you have gone to the effort of getting the Parry skill, it is a waste not to compliment Parry with Reactive Paralyse, and a real must have v the Warriors, Banes and Dismounters I fight non stop. Parry Mages have real real mana issues (and Damage issues), for starters, they've usually had to sacrifice Meditation, and secondly the 80+ Dex requirement to use the Parry to full effect really sucks out their Intelligence required for Mana. So Soul Charge 30% is really vital. At that point, I would be really happy - however, if there are any points left over - STR (or HPR)would be the one to have, to help reach the 150 HP Cap which again is vital in PvP. PvP Parry mages can only use 20% SDI, we can get that elsewhere maybe.
And a future Warrior PvP Parry Shield.
For my Parry warriors, used in both pvm and pvp, these stats would be amazing on a shield. SSI and Dex - both being used to help reach the max swing caps. Then the other 3 properties are what basically compliment a character with Parry skill the best.
I understand these Shields are maybe not as Universal as say the one you have released with the patch - but maybe they could be a future VvV reward. Although whilst the Mage one is really for a PvP parry mage, I feel the warrior one in my case, could be used universally. I alreay try to find such shields, and have so many to try and get hold of.
Hmm - I am pretty much there? I'd be interested to see your suit design? This is mine. I'm mid making an adjustment to fit Cuffs of the Archmage in, but this will work fine. Blue is where I have achieved SDI max, and green is where I'm balancing the suit. The Shield will fit in nicely. Yes - I'm putting resists on Jewels - my Bracelet is a Balancing item. I need to update this spreadsheet a bit, I've not put the rest of the Deceit spellbook properties on. Hook's Shield will require an adjustment to jewels, as will the Cuffs - but good for me to do both together. I'm already in territory of needing to reduce a few things, LMC, Fire resist, poison resist, FC even - but in general I love this suit for pvm on my mage spellweaver.
To be fair - I do get your point. The answer is yes, I made up for it on the jewels.
End of the day, I guess I would just rebalance the jewels again, but as you can see, the shield will take my Fire Resist to 97. I'm also overclocked on INT, what I need to do, is update the spreadsheet a bit
Ok @Grace
I've rebuilt the SDI suit spreadsheet, with Cuffs of the Archmage, and Hook's Shield included.
This shows a typical SDI suit with most Max SDI items included, and using Jewels to balance.
I think it shows the Poison Resist could stay - I will adjusting it out of my Jewels to counter balance what is on the Shield.
I think it shows we clearly go above on Fire Resist - I am hitting 93 Fire Resist - it could actually go into Physical Resist for better balance. It's the Kelp Leggings, with only 5 Physical Resist, that make you need 10 Physical Resist to be made up on Jewels.
I am also on 5 FC instead of 2 FC - but again can adjust downwards on my Jewels by 2.
5 DCI needs to be added for me, but that is a personal set-up thing on Jewels.
I will amend my Previous comment, maybe it does not need any adjustment, lol. If it did, it's maybe just the Fire Resist going into Physical Resist - which would allow me to take Physical Resist off the Ring, for something else.
Thank you @Grace and @Kyronix
ESRB warning: Some Blood. LOTS of Alcohol. Some Violence. LOTS of Bugs
so its basically a teaser for us right now.
all that was said about it, is that it will be the start of a quest.
(in my opinion, I think it was put on the wrong list, just like
the first aid belt was put on the dynamic event list instead of
the dynamic champ list. So for now, we have a spoiler)
I am not sure whether what that Poster says (i.e. that Pack Instinct also works for pets with pack instinct who belong to different Tamers but all in the same Party...) but this is not relevant for the sake of the discussion because, if it is, then it's OK, this Ostard could still be usefull as a 4 only, it would need to be used together with other Pack Instinct pets in the same Party (even moreso as a 3 slotter)... and if it is not, well, then the Developers could make it possible and, thus, allow Pack Instinct to work for Pets owned by different Tamers but all in the same one Party....
Of course, training the pet to 5 slot would get the pet to forcedly loose the Pack Instinct....
So, it could be a viable thing which could still make this Ostard be appreciated as a 4 slotter (even moreso as a 3 slotter) "if", it was to be used in a group, together with other Tamers all partied up....
Which it is, to my understanding, what the Developers want, to have players play up in groups, with fellow players.... and this would actually promote Tamers to want to group up for their hunts...
This could make the Ostard a nice pet to have, thanking to the Pack Instinct, whether a 3 or 4 slotter....
Edit: Maybe its Wrestling needed. He told me I need a skill to make DCI work well.
Don't invalidate banes. People spent a lot of time and effort to get these.
I don't agree to this. If so, should the Dev bring back SDI 50 spellbooks, Lieutenant sash (replica), etc. There is no such rule. Btw, I sold off my Bane without knowing that one day there would be a replacement. No big deal.
ESRB warning: Some Blood. LOTS of Alcohol. Some Violence. LOTS of Bugs
New items could do new things and one day become rare too.
It is "as if" Bane Dragons spawned again only, under a different "skin"....
And I see nothing wrong with this, it actually is a helpfull thing, overall, for the game, as it permits to newer or returning players or players who where not there when Bane Dragons happened to spawn, to "catch up" with those players who got them....
Just like it has happened with the [Replica] items which permitted to more players to be able to take advantage of them and not leave them to be an exclusiveness of a handfull of players who were lucky to have them....
If I were a Bane Dragon owner I would be more concerned about this https://uo.com/wiki/ultima-online-wiki/publish-notes/publish-110/
Why ?
Because most Bane owners who already have trained them up, they might (or might not, depends on the case), have left them with low Mana since they were not using it much....
Yet, after the Publish will go live, and their Banes will start using up Mana for their abilities.... well, guess what ? These pets will be a lot less effective if they were trained up with little Mana because they were not using it much "back then"...
Too bad, that now they cannot be "retrained" so, I am afraid, a whole lot of Banes will be quite a lot less effective if, in their training, Mana was neglected and they have no more training points to increase their Mana one way or the other....
This should concern Bane Dragons users a lot more then the new Ostards, me thinks...