New Legacy Pub 2: Forsaken Bloodline Dungeon Feedback

Congratulations on unlocking the new dungeon! Please provide any feedback you have on the encounters here. Thanks!

Opening:

• For me unfortunately the essence chase was more fun than the dungeon itself. People had a reason to participate in pvp spawns, internal politics began to emerge, some interactions began, people began to negotiate or - no, it created a healthier environment, now it died and in just a week.

• I think the dungeon shouldn't be open all the time, the chase for essences should be ongoing, it should be in the spirit of Peerless boss or Quderact where only a group that has used essence can be there at the same time. This will continue the race for essences, force players to agree on their exchange, unite in guilds or groups to go through the content together, and not just stand in afk in front of the boss they need.The development of politics will continue due to the fact that part of the essences is behind PvP and people will either seek protection or learn to fight, or negotiate exchanges.

Dungeon:

• The fact that the dungeon is divided into wings is good - interesting, but the fact that they are open all the time is a mistake, this has already led to people just coming, killing Kael and just going AFK until the next respawn, good luck getting the desired loot.... let someone else clear the dungeon but not me - right?

• Only one wing should be open and the bosses should be better separated from each other so that it is either very difficult or impossible to get to the other bosses, unfortunately linearity in an initially linear dungeon is necessary or it creates an imbalance.

Balance:

• The bosses of the first three wings are very easy and do not correspond to the idea of ​​increasing the complexity of the content as the server progresses, in fact, the most difficult boss of the initial wings is the blizzard cyclone simply because due to the huge number of people it is not clear how the mechanics work, whether we need to move to warm up or just kill trash.The worm that buries every hit is more annoying than something interesting.

• Exarchs are something closer to what Blackthorn could and should be. I understand the idea of ​​making filler bosses at the beginning and then you get to the hard ones, but the rewards for easy bosses are so strong and more varied that there is no point in going to Exarchs?

• Exarchs have more interesting mechanics and are similar to real bosses, at least those that I saw, I liked Automaton the most because in my opinion this is how all mechanics in the game should look like, not something mindless hit and heal, but watch your debuff, run away in time, stop at a certain moment, keep your distance, this is a very complex and good mechanic, of which there should be at least two per boss, the rest of the bosses, without looking at the attempt to create something similar, are killed by simply throwing "slippers" and you watch as the boss dies.

• I understand that over time the number of people will decrease and it will not be such an annoying factor, but it has always irritated me and maybe it is time to do something about it?When there are 20 people with big dragons in a small room, I don't see anything, not interesting animations that you came up with for the fight, neither the boss himself, nor his corpse, nothing. The second annoying thing and I understand that this problem has been around for many years, you come up with interesting colors and skins for monsters, but I can't see them because the target I chose turns red and it's very difficult to see anything.

1. Maybe it's time to improve the new target system so that it's more obvious what target you've chosen, maybe additinal portraits? or just a checkbox in the settings to disable color changes for the selected target?
2. Another great addition would be the ability to turn off visualization of other people's pets or even players, so I can see the boss in a crowded room with dragons, even one dragon can be enough to block the entire view.

Rewards:

• Regulating loot is already your design decision, I understand, but in general, a huge amount of HP on things does not lead to anything, we have been in the HP overcap (25) since the first day, it seems to me, and now there is even more.

• I'm already working on opening the blacktorn on the Japanese server for testing and I understand that there is a chance of getting access to it before even the first phase of loot progression in the world, if I get things from this dungeon what good would it do for me to pick up jewelry items from the world at all?

• The drop chance will most likely be regulated, which is another problem. Now people will abuse Kael and get the lure, and then you will reduce the drop chance to 0. Great. Everyone who abused the fact that you can just go to the boss and have a high chance will get rich - that's bad.

• Considering that basically everyone will only transfer pets and think only about this, this is another not very good idea. Please read the review about the transfer of things and reconsider this idea and move towards tokens so that everyone can get equal rewards, and not who managed to abuse something. ( https://forum.uo.com/discussion/15951/devs-should-reconsider-what-transfers-some-most-equipment-should#latest ; - my post here)

• Redistributing stats I don't see that it will do anything, I don't see how I can use these extra stamina to reach new speed breakpoints or something. I see the idea of ​​designing things a little differently, go with the idea of ​​slots, the belt should be a utility slot, first aid belt, reagent belt, scroll belt, tools belt. The talisman should be an active item, apply debuffs/buffs when used. AKA trinket, so it will be possible to balance things, add effects for pvp and pve and balance it. Let's say a buff for a mage so that his spell mg is stronger at the right moment or a slowdown for a melee fighter so that he can at least sometime catch up with his target or some temporary buffs for pve like 60 ssi for 10 seconds so that you can use slow weapons. Just as thoughts.

Bugs: 

• Haven't found any major bugs yet, but the quartermaster spams the sound effect with every hit, it was so annoying that I had to turn off the sound in the game.

P.S. Just facts, no insults, accusations of poor work or personal dissatisfaction with anything.

Good analysis! All those dragons in BT rooms reminded me of EM events. Only Boss I could see was that whirlwind Boss.

Who or what is "Kael"? Is Kael the Uber Boss in BT dungeon, if so where is he located?

Thank you very much for adding such a wonderful dungeon.

Although I haven’t run each dungeon enough times to provide detailed feedback on specific encounters just yet, I’d like to share my overall impressions.

First of all, the variety of abilities used by each boss made every fight feel fresh and exciting. Some bosses offered a balanced challenge, while others were truly formidable. Each battle felt like a new adventure, and I found myself genuinely thrilled every time. It’s no exaggeration to say that this content is exhilarating—I had an amazing time.

What impressed me even more was the natural cooperation among players. Watching strangers support each other and face challenges together reminded me of the kindness and strength of the UO community. I believe that this kind of positive and cooperative experience will resonate well not only with current UO players but also with returning veterans and newcomers alike.

Lastly, if I may share a small concern:
In the past, attempts by a minority of PvP-focused players to impose their version of “order” or “politics” often led to monopolization by select groups. This, in turn, drove many players away. To avoid repeating that history, I believe it’s crucial to keep PvP elements to a minimum, especially in content that should feel welcoming to new and returning players. Fostering an environment centered on cooperation rather than competition will go a long way toward expanding and sustaining the player base.

---

Once again, thank you to the entire development team for your passion and dedication!

Essence Gathering

The essence gathering process really got players involved and it truly became a server-wide event that involved almost if not all active guilds. It even created new alliances amongst some of the servers largest guilds and created new friendships amongst them. This was a one-time event that will remain memorable for many, I'm sure.

West Wing

North Wing

Exarch Wing

Additional Thoughts

  It's very strange that so few people left their feedback.

  Despite my very critical review, I want to express my gratitude and surprise at how all the innovations and content did not cause errors, at least nothing critical that was noticed publicly. Good patch, good work!
 
  But I wouldn't be Garret if I didn't say but, I understand that most of the content revolves around tamers and pets, apparently because it is more attractive from the commercial side, but I hope that content patches will alternate with balance patches that will bring a little variety to the game mechanics and gameplay of other classes.

  I have already expressed some thoughts on balance, I can share my ideas if this interests you. I am also very interested in why, in my opinion, the patch was without large-scale breakdowns, do you have a hidden group of testers? Can I get an invite?))

@Parallax

P.S. It's very nice when you see a response, even if it's formal, to your feedback, thank you very much!

Garret said:

  It's very strange that so few people left their feedback.

  Despite my very critical review, I want to express my gratitude and surprise at how all the innovations and content did not cause errors, at least nothing critical that was noticed publicly. Good patch, good work!
 
  But I wouldn't be Garret if I didn't say but, I understand that most of the content revolves around tamers and pets, apparently because it is more attractive from the commercial side, but I hope that content patches will alternate with balance patches that will bring a little variety to the game mechanics and gameplay of other classes.

  I have already expressed some thoughts on balance, I can share my ideas if this interests you. I am also very interested in why, in my opinion, the patch was without large-scale breakdowns, do you have a hidden group of testers? Can I get an invite?))

@ Parallax

P.S. It's very nice when you see a response, even if it's formal, to your feedback, thank you very much!

I agree. I have one GM Mage w/additional skills of Focus (need that MR!) and Resist Spells. I also have a second Mage that will soon be GM, as well as 3 other Mages at 80ish level. I don't intend to make them hybrid tamers or bards either. I look forward to sending five 7X GM mages back home with some interesting artifacts and heirlooms to decorate.

Parallax said:

@ Garret @ RAVER @ Kel Thank you for the feedback, it is much appreciated!

@ TETSUJIN Divergent path players can participate in the Forsaken Bloodline objectives, but they must be considered an "Advanced Divergent", which requires them to have acquired at least 600 skill points total, and defeated Garthok the Champion.

you need to return to the Brit house and get the earrings. In the back room there is a gold box inside one of the drawers, double click it and a pair of earrings will drop in your pack. Wear those to get through the barrier.

Mariah said:

you need to return to the Brit house and get the earrings. In the back room there is a gold box inside one of the drawers, double click it and a pair of earrings will drop in your pack. Wear those to get through the barrier.

Hi,

I don't know 🙁 I can only say that I didn't realise at first that I had gotten the drop, there was only a system message in my journal, which I hadn't seen. Double check your back pack?

Earrings drop into pack.

TETSUJIN said:

Mariah said:

you need to return to the Brit house and get the earrings. In the back room there is a gold box inside one of the drawers, double click it and a pair of earrings will drop in your pack. Wear those to get through the barrier.

Hi,

Unfortunately, when I W-clicked on the golden box where the earrings were supposed to drop, there was no response.

The scroll in the bookshelf in front of the box did not respond to W-click as well.

Is this character of mine broken?

Parallax said:

TETSUJIN said:

Mariah said:

you need to return to the Brit house and get the earrings. In the back room there is a gold box inside one of the drawers, double click it and a pair of earrings will drop in your pack. Wear those to get through the barrier.

Hi,

Unfortunately, when I W-clicked on the golden box where the earrings were supposed to drop, there was no response.

The scroll in the bookshelf in front of the box did not respond to W-click as well.

Is this character of mine broken?

Did you follow the quest line from the start? There are several Arcane Enforcer NPCs around that start the quest chain (https://uo.com/wiki/ultima-online-wiki/new-legacy-an-overview/nl-forsaken-bloodline-event/).

The scroll will only work if you are on the correct quest objective step, and the earrings will only be given to you after you complete that objective.

TETSUJIN said:

Hello.

I know this is not dungeon related, but could you please add the Museum Archival Book added in the 

Pub 2 hot fix as a giveaway to the JPN New Legacy Rewards Trader as well?

Please do so before the archive form fills the museum floor.

Thank you.

It should be on the reward vendor now.

Parallax said:

TETSUJIN said:

Hello.

I know this is not dungeon related, but could you please add the Museum Archival Book added in the 

Pub 2 hot fix as a giveaway to the JPN New Legacy Rewards Trader as well?

Please do so before the archive form fills the museum floor.

Thank you.

It should be on the reward vendor now.

This is, for me, the best content Ultima Online has received since I returned to the game almost 6 years ago.

As other folks have already discussed the Publish and dungeon pre-Hotfix, I'll mostly comment on the current state of everything this past week.

The unlocking was an interesting approach mechanically. Other folks have talked about their disappointment here in it not being more PVP-centric or that they felt other groups were able to take advantage of their hard work, but I don't agree with that approach. I actually think making it a one-time unlock where the desire to fully unlock the experience motivated folks to not 100% fall into predictable patterns of greed was wise. I did not get to participate in the hunt for the essences, though, as it really happened pretty dern fast. Maybe in the future some essences could be found full (like the ones from the champion spawns) and some others could be found as partial-essences on the PVM legendary foes, so more folks can take part. Ultimately, though, there was no title or specific reward for finding and placing an essence (which I think is good), and so really it was just a precursor to the main course of the publish.

When they removed Blackthorn's Dungeon for revamping off production I was disappointed, and further disappointed that in however many years since its flooding by The Fellowship it hasn't returned. But this is -way- better than what the dungeon previously was. It's very obvious that our new designer plays other MMOs and brought some of that philosophy into the mix while trying to still create a UO 'raid' experience. They spoke about it during their recent media blitz, and the effort here is apparent. I don't know that this can 100% be imported over to Production as it is so bespoke to New Legacy. But if this is the design logic they're going to use moving forward: wonderful.

Let me share some of my experience playing NL since the publish has hit:

-I login and usually say hello and ask what's everyone up to and where Blackthorn's currently is.
-I have thus far always been answered. It was like this before as we did the boss circuit, but even more so now that Blackthorn's is open.
-Once told where it is I can make a few decisions. Should I jump in to where ever Blackthorn's is for a short play session or can I do a full cycle of it? Are my armor and weapons okay or do I need to find repairs first? If it's currently in reset people are usually kind enough to say how long, and this lets me calibrate my play session. I find that most people offer this information and it's already become good manners to offer it back if you know.
-Let's say Blackthorn's has just reset. I get over there, get into position, and wait for the doors to unlock. There are several Dreadguards to take out before the Exarchs (the final bosses) unlock.

Blackthorn's is complex enough that there are real differing philosophies about the order in which to take on the Dreadguards. Partly because you can scale difficulty, partly because some paths force you to run by the NPCs in which to take their kill quests, partly because some offer a chance for a specific dropped reward and you want to tackle those first.

I generally follow the largest crowd so we have the best chance of success. Nothing is really soloable with one character. Everything benefits from having others along with you. Some are shorter fights, some are longer. Some require more strategy (the Blizzard) and some less (Bagball guy). 

This is the real highlight of this publish. You can jump into a quick fight with others or you can stay for the long haul of it. It's a fun, community-focused play experience. The rewards are not a grind (indeed I've already got 1400 points since the publish started and I'm -not- an multi-hour, multi-day player) and you can earn what you want both by playing the bosses and by getting lucky enough to get one of the trader rewards dropped into your pack. Some folks have been fantastically lucky in this regard (and y'all know who you are). I was thrilled to get my frozen horse as a lucky pack drop, and probably won't get that lucky again.

The bosses also offer the Vesper Museum Antiquity items and Heirloom rewards (we'll get to these later).

Once we defeat the Dreadguards the second phase opens and we go take on the Exarchs. These fights are -so- much fun to me. Again, when is the last time as UO players we have had to really strategize how to fight certain monsters beyond 'brute force it' ? EM events are well-known for their overpowered boss monsters but there is no real strategy beyond pile on damage and hope you get credit. In these Exarch fights there is a real place for every template approach. As a warrior (swords with my advanced skillset as archery) I can tank most of them, keeping myself healed, and am super useful keeping others healed and ressed. Not every fight benefits from the tamer/mage approach but the fights with heavy add-ons (like Tree guy) absolutely go better if there is Emberwing there to take out the doppleganger adds before they turn into Evil Twins and become -very- hard to deal with. Archery and magery is by far the best approach to Riftbreaker who is just brutal to players who aren't giving it their full attention. Finally, the spider guy is absolute chaos now post-Hotfix and again requires all templates present so players don't get overwhelmed.

This is a far more active and involved PVM experience than UO has served us up in years. I have to really commend the designer's efforts here for making a challenging version of UO. 

BUT, having said all that, if you don't want to do Riftbreaker you don't have to. Or Treeguy. Or Bouldemort. These choices are yours. You can get everything you want in due course with just the Dreadguards. 

Some of my initial critiques here have been addressed in the hotfix. I was going to gripe about Spiderguy being too easy and mob corpses being too hard to find. Both addressed in this Hotfix. Some gump art and hues didn't seem to work correctly and that has been addressed. All though the WebCUO still has persistent gump issues that have been reported and I know will get addressed at some point.

The dungeon is such a win. Well done @Kyronix and @Parallax .

Now having said all that, I want to end here with my favorite part of Publish 2: the Vesper Museum  Antiquities and Heirloom system.

The Vesper Museum antiquity system is so, so much fun. If there is one mechanic that I think should come over to Production ASAP, it is this. Certainly some revisions will need to be done to scale it up to the population of other shards, but that may be a great opportunity to give some love to playstyles outside of the regular monster-bash system. 



I love how items found say my name and house name, and the variety of different types and hues. The above photo are the specific items I've decided to keep. I know some people are keeping none, some are keeping all and donating duplicates, and some like me are only keeping the best named and hued ones of a certain art type.

I love that if you don't keep the item you can keep and add the form to a book which lists out every single item you've found and when and where:



I love that I can get these items from treasure hunting, boss fights, and from Blackthorn's dungeon. One of the joys of New Legacy is that it makes looking through corpse loot important.

I also love that there is public recognition for your personal and guild efforts towards donating to the museum:





Finally, the rare 1 of 1 items with your name in 26 variations Heirloom system is great and makes me feel super eager to play as much as I can.. These are the items I know that are going to be the most special to me when its time to leave, and I don't want to miss any of them. So far I've only gotten one! And so I hope that by playing Blackthorn's and more t-mapping the others will start showing up. A reward item that's like "10% more Heirloom luck" would be super welcome in the last few months of the season.. 

First of all, I want to thank the UO team for creating such a wonderful experience.
New Legacy and the Blackthorn Dungeon have been incredibly enjoyable!

Each boss has unique mechanics, and coordinating with the gathered group to defeat them is an absolute thrill.
Every encounter brings new drama—whether it’s the time of day, playing on NL or JPN NL, or teaming up with people of various backgrounds and skill levels.
Sometimes it’s a struggle with only tamers present, and other times there’s hilarious chaos like yelling “Don’t cast EVs!” at a melee charging the Riftbreaker - or melee yelling back that the EVs are in the way! I find that kind of unpredictability very entertaining.

Personally, I find JPN NL a little "too orderly".
On JPN NL, players actually wait for everyone to arrive before even touching the boss!
It’s certainly a unique aspect of the community and interesting in its own right.


Here are some thoughts I wanted to share.

---

1. Humanoid bosses are hard to target
Bosses like Arkins and Aurum are small, and the battlefield is instantly filled with dragons and players.
Even with object handles, it’s very difficult to target them using the Classic Client. (I love the artwork of the Classic Client, so I just can’t leave it!)
In fact, during my first three BT raids, the bosses were already dead before I even saw them.
The humanoid bosses look really cool, which makes it even more unfortunate that we can’t see or target them easily.
I think larger visual models for bosses would help a lot.

---

2. Combat areas feel too cramped
The battle zones for Dreadguards, in particular, feel very small. The area fills up with dragons and players, and most bosses die without even taking a step.
In contrast, mechanics like breaking portals in the Veylara fight or splitting the group for the Manticore are really well-designed.
I think it would be great to have more room for bosses to move and mechanics that naturally cause players to spread out across the area.

---

3. Mechanics where all playstyles can shine
Most Dreadguards end up boxed and go down quickly.
Riftbreaker is hard to engage with both melee and tamers at the same time.
As a pure mage fighting Riftborn, I struggle to stay alive while being swarmed by Mawlings.
Since these are boss fights, it would be ideal if all playstyles could contribute meaningfully using their strengths.

For example:

• Melee characters could focus on the boss while mages and tamers handle surrounding mobs

• Or a boss with elemental vulnerabilities could encourage mages to attack while melee players defend them.

This kind of design would encourage more communication and cooperation, leading to even more memorable encounters.

---

4. Reward distribution
I’d love to see a system where supporting actions like killing adds or healing also count toward loot eligibility.
For example, in the Veylara fight, I’ve had moments where I was focused on destroying portals for the team… only to find out Veylara died before I got any points—tragic! lol
Holding off adds while others deal with the boss should be a valuable contribution, but right now, players who focus on adds get nothing, so no one wants to touch them.

Also, if there were a system where the number of players engaging a single Dreadguard was limited, and rewards from all active Dreadguards were shared as long as you were participating in any of them, it might help prevent everyone from rushing to the same Dreadguard with 20+ players at once. That way, groups could spread out and start with whichever boss they prefer.

---

5. More dynamic difficulty scaling
BT seems designed for large-scale raids, which makes it very hard to attempt with a small group of around six players.
On the flip side, if too many people show up, the fight ends instantly in a box kill.
I understand balancing is a tough challenge, but I hope for improvements in the future.

---

Lastly, as others have mentioned, I truly love the cooperative and supportive atmosphere in both NL and JPN NL.
Thank you to the UO team for creating content that enables this kind of gameplay experience.
I’m really looking forward to the next scenario!