UO: New combat system coming

[Trippy]

We'll see if this goes as well as the NGE:

http://support.uo.com/cgi-bin/newstools.pl?Article=9382

Publish 40 Update   Mar 17 2006 11:00PM     

After considering your feedback and reviewing the two proposals for changing combat, we’ve decided that a proficiency based system is the better of the two options. Not only will it be easier to understand, but it will allow players to focus in the areas of combat that they desire while limiting the impact equipment has on the outcome of combat. However, since we want to make sure to give you plenty of time to test the new system and provide feedback to help us tweak it before it goes live, Publish 40 will not include the proficiency system.

Another major reason for this decision is that there are some other additions and changes to UO that have already been completed (or are close to completion). Instead of making you wait for these cool improvements, we'd rather you had them as soon as possible. So what are these changes we’re talking about? Glad you asked! Here is a summary of what’s currently included in Publish 40 (keep in mind this list is subject to change and is not complete):

A new and easy to use targeting system
Buff/Debuff icons are being added to the UI
Changes to improve the impact of swing speed in combat
The removal of honor and perfection from PvP
Wands are being adjusted
The scroll/spell issue is being addressed
Changes to how tracking works with ninjitsu
A new quest to reveal another piece of Virtue Armor
New Buddy Rewards
The Moonglow Zoo Community Collection will be adjusted
A mysterious extra little tidbit that will not be revealed until later (it’s fun, we promise!)
Miscellaneous other combat, bug and exploit fixes

We’re currently planning to release an early implementation of the proficiency system to a test shard soon, and we are also working to get a Publish 40 test shard up as soon as possible. Please keep an eye out on www.uo.com for more information. We’re very excited about these improvements to Ultima Online, and we can’t wait to get them into your hands!

[Kenrick]

What's UO?

[WindupAtheist]

It's supposed to work like this:  All properties granted by items (hit chance increase, mana regeneration, whatever) will be capped at a relatively low level.  For each 100 skill points a character has, they can choose one proficiency.  Each proficiency will serve to increase the level at which a particular property is capped.  So while a warrior who chooses melee-oriented proficiencies will top out at the default maximum casting speed no matter how many millions in leet items he piles on, a mage might choose a casting proficiency and be able to top that.  It's their reaction to the fact that (under one set of developers or another) too many godly items have been piled into the game, and made the gap between casual and uber-rich catass too great.

It's actually a completely different proposal than the first one they put forth.  They originally proposed a really bizzare system where item properties would give diminishing returns.  Like if you had 40 fire resistance and put on an item that gave 10 more, you would end up with only 43.  There was that, and a whole list of comprehensive changes to combat, casting, and healing.  They put it all up on the Stratics boards, and the players overwhelmingly bitched that it was too counter-intuitive and complicated, so it was scrapped and replaced with this.  It basically leaves the existing combat in place, it just gives maximum item-based godliness a nerf.

[schild]

That means the game still has programmers. That means the game is still made profitable by people who long to relive their former glories. That means they aren't running around in public mucking around with the gene pool. That means a new combat system that works for UO is GREAT.

[UD_Delt]

But will it have collision detection?

[Dren]

But will it have collision detection?

Ok, I'll bite.  They always did.

[shiznitz]

CD went out with Trammel. I loved the stamina blocking in old UO, but boy was that griefable.

[Dren]

CD went out with Trammel. I loved the stamina blocking in old UO, but boy was that griefable.

Agreed.  I thought about it after posting that and it really was the best system then and now.  And yes, it was griefed like no tomorrow, but you'll get that with any collision detection really.

They took out most of it when the griefing reached a peak.  I'm trying to remember how they changed it and can't.  Didn't they make it so you could only block people when you were grey to each other?  Same thing for spell casted walls and such?  Ugh, seems like forever ago.

Seriously, it does say something that UO is still popular enough to keep people coming back.  They have to have some new subs too.  I can't believe it is all return subs.

That has to prove that a well developed MMO sandbox should have a market, right?  Right?  Hell, slap some truly good graphics to the current UO and I'd give it a whirl.

[WindupAtheist]

I can name a dozen people from my UO guild who left to play WoW.  I can name one who didn't come back.  (Anyone who cares about ding and shiny left for EQ eons ago.)  And yes, I've helped enough genuine newbs along to know that there are still fresh subs.  I've even talked to a few people who played back in like 1998, got fed up with lag and being killed by sheep, and have come back to the game recently out of curiosity.

EDIT:  The one who didn't come back only played for a few months.  Her previous MMO experience consisted of playing an EQ necro to level 57 completely solo.  Make of that what you will.

[shiznitz]

If UO had even Quake 2 graphics and real movement...

[Alkiera]

I admittedly never played on the real server(played on that player shard that was semi-advertised here for a bit)

The system had a steeper learning curve than Shadowbane character creation... for every aspect of the game.  Graphics, etc, aside, it needs a UI revamp to something that makes sense to human beings.

Alkiera

[sinij]

I'm wondering when UO developers will stop beating dead horse of UO PvP. Its been dead for a very long time, no ammount of bandages going to bring it back.

As for me - not a single player in my guild still plays UO and we are one of the well known UO guilds, KGB. Not a single player of about any guild I knew still plays, even non-PvP guild I knew left.

[WindupAtheist]

The nice part is, the game could shut down tomorrow and all the decisions Sinij hates would still be validated.  The game has already survived and remained profitable beyond even the most optimistic expectations.

[Trippy]

It's actually a completely different proposal than the first one they put forth.  They originally proposed a really bizzare system where item properties would give diminishing returns.  Like if you had 40 fire resistance and put on an item that gave 10 more, you would end up with only 43.

Diminishing returns is a common design in many game systems especially ones that are designed with "loot inflation" in mind. E.g. armor class in EQ/WoW/WarCraft III/etc. follows that principle (ignoring all the funky hard cap/soft cap stuff).

[WindupAtheist]

That sort of system would work better in a game where numbers were kept hidden to an extent.  Modern UO is so blatantly number-happy that having 40 + 10 = 43 is just going to drive people nuts.

[sinij]

The nice part is, the game could shut down tomorrow and all the decisions Sinij hates would still be validated.  The game has already survived and remained profitable beyond even the most optimistic expectations.

UO would survive about anything; someone would still play it just for crafting, housing and advancement systems. That and players as a whole got picky only in recent years, UO pulled off SWG number of times back in the day without majority of players quitting. I also glad UO and WoW exist- this way douchebags like WUA are somewhat contained and are not fucking up other games with their presence.

[WindupAtheist]

UO has only ever made two sets of changes that come anywhere close to approaching the NGE.  The first was Rennaisance, and the fact is, most players liked that change.  Certain people like to cook up bizzare theories to the contrary, but the bottom line is that it wasn't Trammel that was sitting empty thereafter.

The second set of changes was the Age of Shadows expansion, and that was a bit more analogous to the NGE, but still not really.  Combat changed to a large extent, but the blow was softened by the fact that the alterations were accompanied by a large amount of content.  New landmass,  uberdungeon, monsters, weapons, necromancy, chivalry, artifacts, special attacks, customizable houses, and so forth.

"Your template kinda sucks, but you can add a new skill and become way more powerful" is a much easier nerf to swallow than "Your profession no longer exists!"

[sinij]

Yes UO can do no wrong, now go back to camping Dark Elf Robo Jesus spawn for your next virtue drop so you can upgrade to +65 fire from +64.

Ninjas, don’t forget about ninjas.

[Telemediocrity]

Yes UO can do no wrong, now go back to camping Dark Elf Robo Jesus spawn for your next virtue drop so you can upgrade to +65 fire from +64.

That was astoundingly relevant to the points he raised.

Anyhow, I liked quite a few of UO's systems, but the click-to-move nature of the game just never jived with me.  The whole thing felt less responsive than moving my hero around the map in HoMM2.

If Irth Online ever gets its shit together, its way of moving all the UO systems into the 3D realm might make it somewhat worthwhile.  It seems incomplete enough as it is that it'd suck to play alone, but getting a group of friends together the game world might offer a lot in the way of "Make your own fun".  Much of the game's continent is still unexplored, for instance, and there's no IrthVault to give you every PoV coord.

[Sky]

it will allow players to focus in the areas of combat that they desire while limiting the impact equipment has on the outcome of combat.

Heh. Years later "oh shit that was a stupid idea." I'll always remember UO as the game where equipment meant jack and shit unless you were risking your katana of vanq in the field. Everyone in gm-made plate, nice even playing field. They fucked up UO in so many ways it's just sad.

[Bunk]

Yes UO can do no wrong, now go back to camping Dark Elf Robo Jesus spawn for your next virtue drop so you can upgrade to +65 fire from +64.

That was astoundingly relevant to the points he raised.

Though its likely that Tele hasn't been around long enough to see WindUp explode in a frenzy of UO fanboidom, in this case I agree with him. Nothing Windup has said in this thread has required a snarky response.

Unfortunately sometimes people see certain posters names and assume its thier duty to flame them, regardless of what was actually posted.