Atlantic Roleplay Community Boards

[Atlantic News]

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October 10, 2008

"I read about raising skill/stat caps in SA in the House of Commons chat last week. Any more info on that?"

That post sparked a lot of really fascinating discussion, both in the office and the community. The conclusion we came to was that doing such a thing properly would require more time and manpower than we currently have planned for on Stygian Abyss. We didn't entirely rule it out, but it's definitely something that we'd have to take great pains over in order to make it a positive change - and we'd probably have to do at least one pass on the existing system first to clear up some issues left from previous expansion packs. So, in short, the negotiations fell through and the skill and/or stat caps are not currently planned to change with Stygian Abyss.

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"The new plants still don't behave the same way as the old ones when locked down. Will that be fixed?"

Yes - we've got the fix for that in Publish 56.

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"What is the plan for fixing the naturalist quest?"

In 56, all of the new plants will be added to that quest, so you will have the chance to get them in blaze, black, or white colors. This should also fix the current issue where you only get the new cactus as a reward - it should randomize properly again.

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"Will the new stackable items stack with existing items?"

Yes, they should - this is one of the things we're testing pretty heavily. UO is terribly quirky, so there may be one-off exceptions, but so far it's looking good.

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"Will the skill jewelry change affect tamers?"

This question generally seemed to come up as a thinly-veiled request for a tamer nerf, but there's an important point to be made here. Tamers can use skill jewelry to supplement their templates, but if they have a high-end pet and they take the jewelry off, they will have a lower chance of being able to successfully command it. Failed commands lower the pet's loyalty, and if loyalty drops too far, it will go wild. So, no, it's not as instant a change as taking your necro jewelry off in vamp form will be, but no sane tamer would raise his skill with jewelry to tame something then take it back off - he'd very soon get munched by his own pet.

Likewise, if you want to use skill jewelry to enter vamp form, you will still be able to. You'll just have to keep that jewelry on until you are tired of all the blood-sucking!

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Faction Item Follow-Up

Last week's post brought up a number of questions - here are some answers!

"Will the items be faction-blessed or insurable?"

They will be insurable (except, of course, the potions, bandages, and similar consumables.) Players will be able to use clothing bless deeds on them if they wish, however, do remember that they will eventually wear out, since Powder of Fortification cannot be used on them (and Powder of Perseverance, the faction version, is more limited.) On Siege, they will be neither blessed nor insurable.

"Is the item that allows humans to wear elf armor faction-only?"

Yes - only characters that are in factions will be able to use them.

"Will the new items be usable in Trammel?"

Yup, as long as you meet the faction rank and membership requirements. (And assuming, of course, that you're allowed in to Trammel...)

"Some of the items the new ones are based on - such as the Crimson Cincture - do not have durability. Will the Faction versions?"

Yes - all the faction artifacts (except spellbooks) will have durability and can wear out.

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"Will more items be added to commodity deeds in Publish 56?"

Right now adding empty bottles to commodity deeds is in testing - assuming we can make it work, that should go in, and we'll be adding more items in future publishes.

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"Will the fact that things like dough now stack change how Cooking skill gains work?"

(For the non-chefs out there, some items, such as fish steaks and cuts of ribs, can be cooked as a stack and is counted differently for the purposes of skill gain.) The new stackables, such as dough, will behave more like the other skills - if you have a stack of dough and a stack of honey and choose to create sweet dough, it will only use one of each off of the stacks, so you can make as many attempts as you have dough and still have a nice tidy backpack

Feel free to send in feedback if you'd like for fish steaks and cuts of ribs to behave that way, too - if I recall, the original change was to make cooking suck less with the original skill gumps, but the new one (and particularly the KR one) are much less tedious to use, and that feature may be obsolete.

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What's To Come:

Publish 56 is about four days behind schedule at this point. It may make it onto TC next week, or it may not - it depends on how many issues turn up and how long it takes to resolve them. This is an unusually large publish with many different systems involved, so we want to make sure QA has plenty of time to work on it.

Speaking of large, a warning for y'all - particularly the KR players. Due to some animation changes, this will be a very large (700mb) patch. The client will be patched when Test Center is updated, most likely, so plan accordingly!

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Chicago Town Hall

The Chicago Town Hall is next week - if you're at all interested in Stygian Abyss, don't miss it! Check out the details here, and we'd appreciate it if you RSVPed.

[Ceinwyn ab'Arawn]

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Nothing about Halloween, by any chance?

[Halister Marner]

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[Tai Kwan Leap]

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pretty sure it happens the end of this month.
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"He's been fired from the Shrimp Boat?" -- Charlaine Harris "Living Dead In Dallas."

[Ceinwyn ab'Arawn]

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*smacks tai with a slice of ham*

[Walter]

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We will get another IOU
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[20:28] Inkari: walter=chuck norris

"What do you mean I can't sell castle deeds I create on Ebay?" - GM Darwin circa 1999

[gypsy_merrique]

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[Tai Kwan Leap]

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why do people like to hit me with pork?

I can't wait for stuff to start stacking.
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"He's been fired from the Shrimp Boat?" -- Charlaine Harris "Living Dead In Dallas."

[Ceinwyn ab'Arawn]

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*slaps tai with a stack of bricks wrapped in bacon*

[Phyrra Venorik]

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You need to hit him with lamb chops.. Durrrr... *hugs Tai*

[Tai Kwan Leap]

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I personally cannot wait for things to stack. We need to lobby for a brewing/vinting skill... I mean come on, we got yeast.
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"He's been fired from the Shrimp Boat?" -- Charlaine Harris "Living Dead In Dallas."

[Garrick Koetrig]

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*offers Tai sacks of Gold for his pork products*
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A government must not waiver once it has chosen it's course. It must not look to the left or right but go forward.--Otto von Bismarck
Any alliance whose purpose is not the intention to wage war is senseless and useless- A Hitler
Exterminate heresy, lest it take root and overturn the state and social order-Charles HRE
Er aber, sag's ihm, er kann mich im Arsche lecken!

[Tai Kwan Leap]

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well, as a gm chef, I do make a delectable viener schniztel.


I want to be able to fill potion kegs with homemade brew ... ale or wine or liquor.

Then just line them up on the bar and pass out mugs and stuff.
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"He's been fired from the Shrimp Boat?" -- Charlaine Harris "Living Dead In Dallas."

[Garrick Koetrig]

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Awl Pork products available for sale shall be bought by mein reich! Tai is to be kidnapped and forced to serve viener schniztel For every meal...sausages and borscht welcome too!
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A government must not waiver once it has chosen it's course. It must not look to the left or right but go forward.--Otto von Bismarck
Any alliance whose purpose is not the intention to wage war is senseless and useless- A Hitler
Exterminate heresy, lest it take root and overturn the state and social order-Charles HRE
Er aber, sag's ihm, er kann mich im Arsche lecken!

[Nh'bdy]

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Stop making me think we have news >:[
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Work in Progress.
"What do you call a fish with four legs? A stool pidgeon! Bwuagh bwuagh bwuagh bwguagh!"
~Malorn