News letter is out

https://mailchi.mp/broadsword/ultima-online-nls-14?e=806593187a

Unfortunate NL got pushed into next year, but nice to know they are still working on it.  I hope whatever personal issues were going on are resolved.

 ❤️ 

Sneak peek of NL would be cool 

I like all the new art. I guess the Llama, buck, and bear are the holiday gifts. Those will fit well in my house in the snow. @McDougle the ship you want is on a pumpkin. 

The 2 new huntsmaster trophies are nice.

Thanks

Its good to hear from them.   Hopefully all the team is okay, sounds like someone(s) hit a rough patch.  I wish them all the better days ahead!

would have love to hear of a new event arc, but given the messaging in the newsletter, the devs obviously cant commit resources to new.  

Yay! I'm excited to receive the latest newsletter and see NL is still in the works! 

I hope all the devs are well and the rough seas have calmed.

Thanks for the news!

Glad we finally got something but I'm in camp disappointment over here. 

The first newsletter in about 6 months and the result is some very vague details about the holiday events (Halloween/Xmas) & a Huntsman reward (looks like a polar bear deco) and 2 pics of banners from NL. The only real details are on the 2 hour event THIS Saturday (which I cannot attend). 

There was nothing about actual new content for the rest of the year which really is the biggest disappointment. In fact, it's really hard to even know what exactly they've been working on since May (when they made their final "fix" on Destard) and there was nothing really in the newsletter to help me understand that. 

I can honestly say that after such a long time waiting, I've never felt more uninformed about something after reading what is supposed to be an informative community update letter.

Those personal matters were prob. family matters that take priority over everything.  The DEVs are not your personal robots.

I hope this year we get the holiday gifts as tokens that give new boxes with a new rare 

I am thankful for the update and I hope the suffering with personal issues eases. ❤️

I didn't see anything about another treasure event. Was hoping maybe they would squeeze another in yet!

Some posts that fail to conform to the terms of service have been removed. Please post with courtesy and respect in mind. Thank you.

Rorschach said:
Please post with courtesy and respect in mind.

That's a foreign concept to a lot of people...

Back on topic, this is a major milestone UOs 25th and they've got personal stuff going on to deal with us.

What better way to celebrate 25 than turn on every event ever at the same time? That'll surely keep the antsy pants busy and keep everyone calm until NL is ready. 

gay said:

I can honestly say that after such a long time waiting, I've never felt more uninformed about something after reading what is supposed to be an informative community update letter.

100% agree.

MsScarlett said:

I didn't see anything about another treasure event. Was hoping maybe they would squeeze another in yet!

Noticeably missing was any word on if there will be another dynamic event this year (I doubt there will be a 25th event arc at this point) which I think is needed. We got 2 events last year and this year should be no different given that we aren't getting NL, right (they did create a tool to make this easier didn't they?)?

This time last year, we were 2 weeks away from our second dynamic event of the year. 

Throw us some town invasions but instead of spellbook books any mob has chance to drop random past TOT drop..heck invade all the towns at once 

Yes, do the invasion event again but randomize the spellbook drops so they don’t all go in the first five to ten minutes of the event.  And, let mages use their summons spells in town this time.

Wonder if there will be a "rare" in the Christmas gifts - my guess would be a different hued reindeer...

Please no more recycled stuff!

Asking for ToT is why we have dynamic dungeons that yall complain about once they begin.

Making Shame the Dungeon and putting a spawn in Santuary would be challenging.

I would rank Deceit and Hythloth as the two best tot in the past years. Won't mind if they reactivate it with all the rewards for choosing including Yukio. 

I need to get some shard bound items on other shards that I may play.

Seth said:

I would rank Deceit and Hythloth as the two best tot in the past years. Won't mind if they reactivate it with all the rewards for choosing including Yukio. 

I need to get some shard bound items on other shards that I may play.

One dungeon for each missing month seems fair 

Thank you for posting the link, despite being signed up, I never receive them.

Nails_Warstein said:

Thank you for posting the link, despite being signed up, I never receive them.

  

Urge said:

Rorschach said:
Please post with courtesy and respect in mind.

That's a foreign concept to a lot of people...

Back on topic, this is a major milestone UOs 25th and they've got personal stuff going on to deal with us.

What better way to celebrate 25 than turn on every event ever at the same time? That'll surely keep the antsy pants busy and keep everyone calm until NL is ready. 

Ok compromise is good. restore either despise or blackthorns and open on both facets with all past rewards including pumpkin cannon and rowboat...

Long as we are talking about fighting events let’s even out the drop rate.  Get so tired about hearing about some players getting 130 drops an hour while others are getting around 5.  Have to wonder really how many posters really exaggerate.  But events should not just be about how many drops you get.  A drop should provide a feeling of accomplishment.  Get so tired of reading so many posts consisting of complaints about the drop rate.  And, maybe give some hints on whatever it is that counts towards a drop.  Sometimes enjoy reading the speculation about what it takes to get one but not one post after another.  Honestly think a max of 20 or so an hour is more than enough for the enjoyment of the game.
l

Hippo said:

Wonder if there will be a "rare" in the Christmas gifts - my guess would be a different hued reindeer...

i was thinking the ribbon would be diffferent hues.
I can't wait to decorate with them.

Arnold7 said:

Long as we are talking about fighting events let’s even out the drop rate.  Get so tired about hearing about some players getting 130 drops an hour while others are getting around 5.  Have to wonder really how many posters really exaggerate.  But events should not just be about how many drops you get.  A drop should provide a feeling of accomplishment.  Get so tired of reading so many posts consisting of complaints about the drop rate.  And, maybe give some hints on whatever it is that counts towards a drop.  Sometimes enjoy reading the speculation about what it takes to get one but not one post after another.  Honestly think a max of 20 or so an hour is more than enough for the enjoyment of the game.
l

Get so tired about hearing about some players getting 130 drops an hour while others are getting around 5.  Have to wonder really how many posters really exaggerate.

 Considering that, as we know, the drops fall in a character's backpack, I imagine that the Developers can very well "see as an actual fact, not just a rumor", how many drops a character gets in a given time, and the why (they can see the skills of that character as well as all the gears and weapons they are using), then, they could also introduce adjustments so that the drops' rate would be more evenly split among players using different templates for their hunt....

I think it would be worth spending some resources on because, as you said, I am also tired of hearing such a disparity among players whereas some get 130, and others get only 5 per hour....

popps said:

Arnold7 said:

Long as we are talking about fighting events let’s even out the drop rate.  Get so tired about hearing about some players getting 130 drops an hour while others are getting around 5.  Have to wonder really how many posters really exaggerate.  But events should not just be about how many drops you get.  A drop should provide a feeling of accomplishment.  Get so tired of reading so many posts consisting of complaints about the drop rate.  And, maybe give some hints on whatever it is that counts towards a drop.  Sometimes enjoy reading the speculation about what it takes to get one but not one post after another.  Honestly think a max of 20 or so an hour is more than enough for the enjoyment of the game.
l

Get so tired about hearing about some players getting 130 drops an hour while others are getting around 5.  Have to wonder really how many posters really exaggerate.

 Considering that, as we know, the drops fall in a character's backpack, I imagine that the Developers can very well "see as an actual fact, not just a rumor", how many drops a character gets in a given time, and the why (they can see the skills of that character as well as all the gears and weapons they are using), then, they could also introduce adjustments so that the drops' rate would be more evenly split among players using different templates for their hunt....

I think it would be worth spending some resources on because, as you said, I am also tired of hearing such a disparity among players whereas some get 130, and others get only 5 per hour....

So, a Samp that can cut through spawn at a seriously high rate should be nerfed so a thief can get more drops from chests? or a tamer that just cannot kills as much.  

Samp are Sam's for a reason and thats high kill rates. Not that anyone listens to you, but IF Sam's were nerved to please people like you that you would see even MORE player leaving this game 

bravo, great idea

want more drops. KILL MORE THINGS.  

By your logic you would expect a drop per chest for your thief? how many chests an hour would you have to loot to get drops rates of about 20/30 which is the norm for Samps?

its not rocket science 

not that they do, but just how many things do you think a player would have to kill to get over 100 drops an hour, oh you forget the potion which you refuse to buy in the store of course.

How many things do YOU kill in an hour roughly?  THIS is where your problem is Popps, NOT what others are getting

so how about YOU up YOUR game and improve YOUR chances of drops and not worry about what others might be getting

Once again you want to destroy other players game enjoyment to satisfy YOUR selfish inadequacies

And NO, you cannot use a thief in a treasures of dungeon. 

JackFlashUk said:

so how about YOU up YOUR game and improve YOUR chances of drops and not worry about what others might be getting

Once again you want to destroy other players game enjoyment to satisfy YOUR selfish inadequacies

You both have valid points.

If you peeked at Destard on ATL you would have seen archers gone wild using auto attack to slay everything on screen before legal clients could target. 

For Destard, inadequate meant trying to play legal. 

JackFlashUk said:

popps said:

Arnold7 said:

Long as we are talking about fighting events let’s even out the drop rate.  Get so tired about hearing about some players getting 130 drops an hour while others are getting around 5.  Have to wonder really how many posters really exaggerate.  But events should not just be about how many drops you get.  A drop should provide a feeling of accomplishment.  Get so tired of reading so many posts consisting of complaints about the drop rate.  And, maybe give some hints on whatever it is that counts towards a drop.  Sometimes enjoy reading the speculation about what it takes to get one but not one post after another.  Honestly think a max of 20 or so an hour is more than enough for the enjoyment of the game.
l

Get so tired about hearing about some players getting 130 drops an hour while others are getting around 5.  Have to wonder really how many posters really exaggerate.

 Considering that, as we know, the drops fall in a character's backpack, I imagine that the Developers can very well "see as an actual fact, not just a rumor", how many drops a character gets in a given time, and the why (they can see the skills of that character as well as all the gears and weapons they are using), then, they could also introduce adjustments so that the drops' rate would be more evenly split among players using different templates for their hunt....

I think it would be worth spending some resources on because, as you said, I am also tired of hearing such a disparity among players whereas some get 130, and others get only 5 per hour....

So, a Samp that can cut through spawn at a seriously high rate should be nerfed so a thief can get more drops from chests? or a tamer that just cannot kills as much.  

Samp are Sam's for a reason and thats high kill rates. Not that anyone listens to you, but IF Sam's were nerved to please people like you that you would see even MORE player leaving this game 

bravo, great idea

want more drops. KILL MORE THINGS.  

By your logic you would expect a drop per chest for your thief? how many chests an hour would you have to loot to get drops rates of about 20/30 which is the norm for Samps?

its not rocket science 

not that they do, but just how many things do you think a player would have to kill to get over 100 drops an hour, oh you forget the potion which you refuse to buy in the store of course.

How many things do YOU kill in an hour roughly?  THIS is where your problem is Popps, NOT what others are getting

so how about YOU up YOUR game and improve YOUR chances of drops and not worry about what others might be getting

Once again you want to destroy other players game enjoyment to satisfy YOUR selfish inadequacies

And NO, you cannot use a thief in a treasures of dungeon. 

BALANCE.

People always complain of META as being bad for gaming yet, then, when it comes to avoid a given Template to become META and, thus, to have to have it be balanced out, for gameplay diversity, with other Templates, there is complaints....

Do we want gameplay to be balanced out, or do we not ?

If Sampires get too many more drops as other Templates,  that is, they are grossly unbalanced,  OF COURSE that then players who have limited time to spend in a game would favour usng that Template which is META, and not other the Templates....

And gameplay diversity gets hurt.... with players mostly if not all using the same one template to play....

So, do we want Balance among templates or do we not ?

oh you forget the potion which you refuse to buy in the store of course.

The Potion would need to be "past" the Balance pass among Templates....

That is, Templates should be balanced out with one another WITHOUT a Potion applied (which the Developers can very well assess whether it was or not used in their monitoring....) and then, it would be up to single individuals whether they want to shell the cost of it or not.

want more drops. KILL MORE THINGS.  

Why ?

Worn Luck, for example, is "supposed" to bypass the "more kills" argument and "should" increase the number of drops with less kills.....

That is, to my viewing, a Sampire wearing less luck, but killing more often, should NOT get more drops as, say, a Spellcaster or a Tamer killing more slowly BUT, wearing more Luck with their suit....

And the same should be a for Rogue detecting hidden chests, picking locks, removing traps and all that.... their drop rate should absolutely reflect the slowness of their particular gameplay balancing it out with the quickness of Sampires being able to kill spawn in seconds if not fractions of a second....and thus the drop rate chance in hidden chests for Rogues should be, to my opinion, almost 1 per chest if not actually 1 per chest.... to reflect that of Sampires....

BALANCE it out..... that is what I am saying....

And NO, you cannot use a thief in a treasures of dungeon. 

That is only because, so far, the Developers have not covered also Rogues as a template which players could use in the "Treasure of" Events Dungeons....

I am still hoping that, sooner or later, the Developers will want to add content and drops' mechanics also for this type of Template in the "Treasures of" types of Events.....

Funny that people are talking about something that wasn't even mentioned in the Newsletter. I think that another event this year is unlikely. 

Even though I think there SHOULD be another event; the Devs / followers will say "there is already too much going on for the rest of the year between Trick or Treating / Halloween & the Huntsman / Artisan Festival. There simply is just not enough time to do it all!". 

You CAN NOT balance drops when drop are determined by the number of kills.  Your miner does not deserve the same amount of drops as a Samp when a Samp kills 50 times more monsters.  Even the old ToT were kill based and nobody said a thing, they just made better killing machines.  If you want to get the most drops then make the best killing machine.  UO is not a socialism experiment so stop trying to make it one, the real world is bad enough.

@popps
I think you need to explain more details about what you think is a balance between a warrior and a thief.

Example.

Warriors to kill 5 top level paragons or 100 normal monsters to get 1 drop.

This should be balanced by a thief to pick say 100 Crates to get 1 drop?

Assuming 10 players use thief, they will need 1000 Crates. This will take up a big space.

Give the Dev an idea of how this design should work. As u can see they are busy coding. 

Seth said:

@ popps
I think you need to explain more details about what you think is a balance between a warrior and a thief.

Example.

Warriors to kill 5 top level paragons or 100 normal monsters to get 1 drop.

This should be balanced by a thief to pick say 100 Crates to get 1 drop?

Assuming 10 players use thief, they will need 1000 Crates. This will take up a big space.

Give the Dev an idea of how this design should work. As u can see they are busy coding. 

No.

What needs to be balanced out is TIME to get a drop weighted on the different time it takes for different templates to do their respective actions.

For example, if a Warriors can kill 100 creatures in, say, 5 minutes and get 1 drop (which it makes it an average of 12 drops/hour) but a Rogue in that same 5 minutes would only be able to detect hidden, say, 1 or 2 hidden chests, pick its(their) lock(s) and deal with the Trap(2), THEN, to my opinion, a balanced out Design would make it so that the Rogue was to have 50% to 100% chance at a drop per single hidden chest so to enable that Rogue to be able to get 1 drop in 5 minutes, average, just like the Sampire can.

This is what I see as a balanced out Design among different Templates have different gameplay mechanics and different times....

As in regards the number of hidden chests per dungeon, we need to remember that, once emptied, they decay and vanish making room for new ones to spawn....

The biggest issue here, though, is Paragons auto-revealing..... a Rogue which is a character with too many skills for its Profession (Magery, Hiding, Stealthing, Detect Hidden, Lockpicking, Remove Trap, Stealing, Snooping....), is not geared to have room for skills to make him/her able to neither attack the spawns of the Treasure of Dungeons nor be able to defend against them.... its most important defense is hiding and stealthing yet, as we know, Paragons totally kill hiding/stealthing as they auto-reveal at huge distances, across walls and all that.

If the Developers want to permit Rogues' gameplay with hidden chests in the Treasures of Dungeons, it is necessary to give to Rogues a way to remain hidden and stealthing regardless of the Paragons' auto-reveal ability.

^ So there can be rogue stealth bots ?

Cool, good to see a news letter out.

Id go for a sick looking lantern or something for Halloween though. 

Oreogl said:

Cool, good to see a news letter out.

Id go for a sick looking lantern or something for Halloween though. 

A Lantern that can be a Transmog Target! 

I would love it!!!  And the reprocussions.



Opps I thought I was in the Faire thread!

Pawain said:

Oreogl said:

Cool, good to see a news letter out.

Id go for a sick looking lantern or something for Halloween though. 

A Lantern that can be a Transmog Target! 

I would love it!!!  And the reprocussions.



Opps I thought I was in the Faire thread!

Nothing wrong with the pumpkins but a creepy lantern or something would be awesome or some sort of wearable.

Oreogl said:

Pawain said:

Oreogl said:

Cool, good to see a news letter out.

Id go for a sick looking lantern or something for Halloween though. 

A Lantern that can be a Transmog Target! 

I would love it!!!  And the reprocussions.



Opps I thought I was in the Faire thread!

Nothing wrong with the pumpkins but a creepy lantern or something would be awesome or some sort of wearable.

a creepy skull shaped lantern and the light shines out of its eyes
I know lot of people would love that

Cinderella said:

Oreogl said:

Pawain said:

Oreogl said:

Cool, good to see a news letter out.

Id go for a sick looking lantern or something for Halloween though. 

A Lantern that can be a Transmog Target! 

I would love it!!!  And the reprocussions.



Opps I thought I was in the Faire thread!

Nothing wrong with the pumpkins but a creepy lantern or something would be awesome or some sort of wearable.

a creepy skull shaped lantern and the light shines out of its eyes
I know lot of people would love that

That would be awesome!

Cinderella said:

Oreogl said:

Pawain said:

Oreogl said:

Cool, good to see a news letter out.

Id go for a sick looking lantern or something for Halloween though. 

A Lantern that can be a Transmog Target! 

I would love it!!!  And the reprocussions.



Opps I thought I was in the Faire thread!

Nothing wrong with the pumpkins but a creepy lantern or something would be awesome or some sort of wearable.

a creepy skull shaped lantern and the light shines out of its eyes
I know lot of people would love that

Red glowing eyes - love your idea, Cin!