DenDragon - Greetings and thank you for attending tonight's Open House.
DenDragon - The topic tonight is "Skills and Spells", so try and phrase your questions accordingly.
DenDragon - In order to submit questions please /msg or /query Cironian, Ssendam, Blastaar, or Drax.
DenDragon - Please /msg different ops at different times, in order to balance the load and speed this process up.
DenDragon - Glamdring will be our wonderful moderator for the evening...
DenDragon - Remember, do not msg any of the OSI folk or Glamdring with questions
DenDragon - Alright, we'll begin accepting questions now. Thanks again for attending. ;)

Glamdring - *Aria* What does OSI plan on doing about the current state of Bards? As it is, the Bardic class of skills is virtually useless; Peacemaking is broken, and Provocation just paints a big red target on your back.
DD - Well, here's the thing... we don't want to promise things that aren't coming anytime too soon...
DD - (anyone who's read the Pagan Magic page lately knows how it feels when stuff isn't delivered soon)
DD - Bards were always a favorite profession of mine, and I'd like them to be really cool. I'd like to have stuff
DD - like a mini embedded sequencer int he game, so you can enter your own music, and stuff
DD - I really value the cultural role of bards more than the hack n slash role :)
DD - But beyond that, we're discussing things like getting rid of the tw-minute flag on peacemaking,
DD - and there are a few other possible bardic abilities that are sorta floating in the back of my head
DD - (like inspirational music that gives a + to hit to those who hear it, for example...)
DD - But I have to emphasize, we don't know when we'll get to something like that
DD - It's awfully hard to juggle priorities, and I would guess that right now our top proirities do not
DD - include anything like bardic enhancement. They are instead things like weapons balance.
DD - Please do take that priorities thing as a rule for everything we talk about tonight, since I am sure we will
DD - be seeing many questions about changes to skills that are possibly many months down the road
DD - and I don't want to get yelled at for promising something we can't deliver real soon :)

Glamdring - *BK* Are there plans as of now to impliment colored plate, if so, how will it be made? Possible to make it exceptional?
DD - Yeah, we have a couple of tentative designs for it. One of the cooler ones involves differing
DD - skill levels of miners having access to mine different types of ore, which open up new colors.
DD - A grandmaster miner could find and smelt colors of ore, and grandmaster blacksmiths, work with these new metals
DD - there's actually ome sample code done on it, but it's not for the short term either. :)

Glamdring - *Aramus* when will miners be able to mine gems?
DD - Gems would be part of the same thing. :)

Glamdring - *neathandle* what are the plans for Necromancy? Is there a basis on how many spells there will be, If ther will be circles, what you need to cast the spells, ect.....
DD - Right now, there are almost no plans about necromany that are solid enough to talk about.
DD - We had just started to design it when we basically had to drop it. That was a long time ago :(
DD - We still do intend to get back to it, but would rather like to see more suggestions on the Net for how it could work
DD - Some stuff we've definitely talked about; alternate means of casting (ritual based, lighting candles, pentagrams)
DD - and obviously, stuff that relates to the undead (possibly even coming back as a lich yourself)
DD - Again, about all we have done is candlie lighting and stuff

Glamdring - *blankknig* would it be possible to change the skill cap so it goes up with age of the charactor, this could help greatly against the three day macroed PKers, and give the long time one charactor players more room for growth as a role player
DD - Probably not. Unless you want to cut the skill cap for a newbie in half or less. :)
DD - The game was balanced to where the skill cap is as high as we want to allow a character to get.
DD - So to do what you suggest we'd have to lower people who aren't of that age, instead
DD - which wouldn't fly ;)

Glamdring - *Ladnar* Are there any plans to make sub-skills enhance other skills. That is a blacksmith with arms Lore making better grade weapons and armor than a sole blacksmith. Or a baker with taste identification making perhaps healing bread. Or even the Anatomy skill coming in to play for damaging opponents. ?
DD - Yes, the new crafting changes listed on the Coming Soon page in fact do some of that.
DD - In terms of upgrading all skills, I've been looking at doing exactkly what you suggest with anatomy (and similar things with magery and eval int) and other combos
DD - more ideas welcome :)

Glamdring - *Johnny* With Recall, all cities & dungeons may as well be side by side for all butnewbies. It's sad that most of the world, roads, & boats are unused, because different travel would be fun. Is there any chance of Recall being modified/remove
Stormwind - Yes, we do plan to limit recall in the future. We want to make it so it is not a instant teleport anywhere spell by placing more limits on it (such as distance).
DD - I get asked alot whether recall was supposed to be an escape spell or a travel spell. The answer is, it was an escape spell mostly.

Glamdring - *AstonM* Could tinkers change the signs on houses??? like put the Smithing sign on a smithy, mages sign on a Tower, would be nice to get rid of the plain brass signs everywhere
Stormwind - That's a cool idea, we'll look into it! :-)

Glamdring - *Trevor* I, along with a lot of others, use a lumberjack/bowyer mule to create bolts because we do not want 150-200 points limiting our other PCs. Can we have NPC vendors sell more than 10 bolts or arrows at a time (say 800 or so for a reasonable price). Playing a mule for hours just so I can shoot a monster gets soo very old. Mages have bulk reagents...
DD - Sure, we can look at doing that
Roland> Fallo is answering questions now too

Glamdring - *wrexsoul-* when are tailors going to be able to make ALL of the differnt kinds of clothing
DD - We don't know. :P But we do know that the tailroing revision makes it very eay to expand the tailoring skill. So we can fairly easily add stuff like banners, etc
DD - (and other clothing)

Glamdring - *Rueggan-KCR* what are furs for? Is there going to be a way to incorporate them into tailoring?
DD - we;'re sure looking for a way! :) We're as tired of furs as you are...!

Glamdring - *Jabberwocky* Could mages be able to magicly enhance weapons, it would be great to have a grandmaster smith to make a viking sword and have a mage enhance the sword to make it stronger
Stormwind - Enchanting weapons is on our favorite things to add list.
Stormwind - We considering a simple version that would function like MM6's enchant weapon spell (cast enchant, get random enchantments depending on casting level) since that is how the magic item generator currently works.
Stormwind - Oops, We are considering... :-)

Glamdring - *Caligula* Currently I have a GM Alchemist yet my title does not show to others. It seems I must be Illustrious before people would know I am a GM, this is not fair for for many of us who wish to play as non-combatants.. Any changes to this?
DD - The threshold at which tiltes show is astill based on the old notoriet ysystem mostly. I'd like to find ways to let people pick what gets displayed
DD - so that you can show a skill that isn't your highest, and also just let people choose whether to display their skill at any level
DD - It would probably be a part of UO Gold's profile feature though
DD - and not on UO Gold's release, but something we add later

Glamdring - *Xalolo_Calrissi* Question: Will armor(such as plate) ever truly restrict mages casting spells and skills such as stealing/snooping?
DD - Yep. The big debate is over HOW it will do so. :)
DD - Lots of different player constituencies have big stakes in the way it is donoe
DD - er, done
DD - So for example, there was a few weeks ago a big debate among members of the Mage Tower about the best way to handle that issue, and it led to a couple of very different proposals
DD - No resolution was reached (they involved adding skills like meditation or channeling)
DD - So there's more thought to be put into that sort of thing. But the goal is definitely one we all share on the dev team
DD - At the very least, higher stamina costs for fighting while encumbered are a good likelihood

Glamdring - *Kaper* I would like to know if it will ever be possible to recharge magic items... Like a cape of night eyes ?
DD - We don't actually have any plans for that at the moment.

Glamdring - *LordMirth* Question for DD: Is it possible to allow tinkerers to be able to create/change locks for houses if they were to have an original key in their possession? This would give players a decent means of house protection.
DD - I'll actually let Stormwind answer it :)
Stormwind - The latest plan was to allow the owner of the house to change the locks at will. Making a tinker neccessary would give the tinkering skill another useful purpose but would increase the difficulty of a house owner in changing locks (either have to find...
Stormwind - a tinker or be one themselves). Hmm, we'll think about it, thanks for the good idea tho!

Glamdring - *shamino* I remember once reading a book saying ``Beware , for the dagger armed foe will likely outclass a halberd armed warior`` any chances this hapens some day?
DD - Sure, it could happen as part of the combat revamp. But we'll have to see. Touching combat is very tricky and you have to be real careful not to create huge imbalances (as we all know!)

Glamdring - *Fluffy* Are there any plans to lower the penalties for PKs? As the penalties are now, it greatly harms a PK with one kill over the 5... 20% skill loss or more. Could a system possibly be but in where skill/stat loss was based on your current bounty?
DD - We are considering lowering the penalty for fame when you die in order/chaos warfare, but that's it.

Glamdring - *Diomedes* speaking of stamina, when will dexterity be useful for combat skills, instead of being a gimp stat.
DD - same thing, conbat revamp :)

Glamdring - *EdgeGods* Is the Purple Llama a fluke or was EV designed to do that? If so will it be fixed in the future? * DD laughs
Stormwind - The purple llama is an Easter Egg. :-) * DD hums under his breath, "Easter Egg..."
DD - As you know, we have a thing for llamas...

Glamdring - *Fujur* Will you implement a way to prevent the learning of skills a character doesn't want? This is aimed mostly at wrestling and also the side-effects of learning while watching. Currently someone at the skills cap looses a lot to walking next to thieves or smithies (ie. like in real life: Don't pay attention to...)
DD - At this point, we honestly feel that you have to WORK to get learning by watching. So we don't have any plans to change that.
DD - As far as being forced to learn wrestling as a mage, that is indeed something we are looking to find a solution for

Glamdring - *astyges* Q: How about a potion that permanently lowers a stat, to get rid of that unwanted dexterity?
Stormwind - It would be very unfortunate to drink that potion accidentally... :-)

Glamdring - *Rueggan-KCR* on the box for the game, it shows a mage casting with a staff... will mages ever be able to use things like gnarled/black staves.. or crooks?
DD - yeah, that's something that has come up from time to time--specialcasing certain items. Maybe tying meditation/channeling to one of those would be cool. I'll have to think about it

Glamdring - *Roland* Why the change to mining? Is this just a clever ruse to stop macro mining? The already most tedius and boring skill in the world will now just get more tiresome and boring..why not have ore that can't fit into a pack stack at the feet of the miner instead of destroying it, if the ultimate goal is to stop server/client problems rather than prevent macroing?
DD - No, it is NOT a clever ruse. If we start dropping it at your feet, it accumulates all nght long, and then you get a "black hole" where
DD - there are so many items in one place that you can get flooded off the server when you get close
DD - it certainly causes lag to those who walk near it
DD - With the new stacking code, the piles will rise vertcailly once they get filled up, but the effect will still happen at some point * DD is now getting floode with messages saying "not what he meant by stacking!" hang on, more answer coming...
Stormwind - One problem with stacking at your feet is that your character is standing in that location. Ore stacked on one's head might look a little funny. :-)

Glamdring - *|SwingKid* Hpw about making PC smiths, tailors etc. able to craft items that NPCs are not able to produce, thus causing PCs to become the main suppliers of these goods and helping to have a player driven economy?
DD - We're planning on that
Stormwind - Yes. For example, one proposed change involves NPCs not selling ship and house deeds. You would need to use the construction skill to build a house or ship.
DD - we;ve talked about litrally yanking the top 50% of goods from NPC shjops and making only provided by players.
Stormwind - We definately want to improve the value of PC skill users compared to NPC shopkeepers.
DD - That way newbies still can buy from shops, but the rest is pushed in to the realm of player commerce

Glamdring - *Senorix* Will PC crafted items such as weapons or armor ever be tagged with the creators name so that if one item ids them it will tell who created the item?
DD - If we move further into player economics, that ould obviously be a major feature we'd need to add :)

Glamdring - *Dr_Doom* Since fame was given to characters according to stat and skill levels when converted from noteriety, why do increasing skills and stats NOT have more of an effect on fame? A Grandmaster blacksmith whould be well known regardless of his combat experience
DD - Making advanbcement in ALL skills grant some measure of fame is indeed something I've been tossing around
DD - I don't want it to be exploitable though...

Glamdring - *Malakai* Q: Will they ever alter the server to not send hidden user info to the client? To prevent programs liks UOEXtreme from 'seeing' invis people and being able to attack them.
Stormwind - Yes, that is a bug that will be fixed soon.

Glamdring - *Arthmadix* Is it possible to introduce the "rare" items such as candelabras to monster loot? As it is no one who hasnt been in the game a long time is ever going to own one.
DD - better yet, we'd like to make those things player-craftable.

Glamdring - *R55* Will magic clothing, such as hats, ever grant "permanant" magical abilites to the user while that object is being worn, such as if you are wearing a hat of night eyes, you will always be able to see in the dark until you take the hat off
DD - The problem there is just that they run out of charges so fast (they tck down based on time worn). So we can easily see about extending the charges on items of that type...

Glamdring - *Trevar* With the upcoming house patch...will someone who has a set of stolen key(s) be able to log on in the house after you change the locks? where will they go if they logged off last in your house?
Stormwind - We are considering several methods of avoiding that. One is to kick everyone but the owner outside of the house when they log out.
Stormwind - Another is kicking everyone out of the house on logout except those with current house keys, or those in a sort of friends list.

Glamdring - *Echo* Will wrestlers ever be able to disarm opponents, i.e. remove a weapon in hand to the pack?
DD - Cool idea. We'll toss int into the mix for consideration in the combat revision

Glamdring - *Keldoryne* About recharging items, would it be possible for a certain location to recharge certain things? Like a fountain of strength could recharge weapons' magical abilities, a fountain of healing could refill potions, etc
DD - I can just see everyone selling recall runes to there now... ;)
DD - It's possible, but i don't know how desirable it is, would have to think about it :)

Glamdring - *Feydrex* Any plans about raising the prices NPCs charge for armor..or more so, weapons. Right now us miners get such a low ammount for ingots because NPCs sell weapons for cheaper than what a smith can buy ingots and make them for. Hardly no profit on armor sales either.
Stormwind - We are considering raising NPC prices along with NPCs not selling higher quality goods.

Glamdring - *IzodDragon* when are we going to see the big field spells ie. earthquake actually start doing some damage?
DD - Well, honestly, we're starting to think that nobody is ever happy with magic spell damage. :(
DD - The tradeoff with earthquake is that it does less damage,m but lets you hit a lot of folks at once. So it has a tactical value.
DD - We want to preserve that tacical value, not make it "mass Energy Bolt"

Glamdring - *Jabberwocky* On Lake Superior, I just got a "surcoat" from The Giving Tree...it's a sleeveless tunic and goes great with full plate for fashion...will tailors be able to make them?
DD - yes, that darn item just keeps slipping thru the cracks for some reason.
DD - you'll be able to make them.

Glamdring - *Radagast_* QUESTION: How customizable will the player houses be? And what point is a pentagram in the house?
DD - Well, the basic shapes will still be like now, but you'll have more types of furnishings you can put in
DD - including looms, forges, etc. And pentagrams are mostly for decoration at first, but someday may matter for expansions to magic (say, necromancy)

Glamdring - *Koko* Will there ever be a way for new spawn points to be created for example, someone brings a couple of deer to an empty island, and soon the island has more deer.
DD - Well, those of you who have been following UO a long time know that we had grand plans for a large artificial life system in the game
DD - We ended up disabling many of the features related to that for various reasons. One of the biggest was, "It wasn't really visible to people."
DD - So it had no bang for the buck
DD - BUT... we're starting to look at ways to get it back
DD - and creature reproduction and population migration is part of that
DD - So--the answer is yes, maybe, if that pans out. Which we don't know yet.

Glamdring - *Volpine* Has it been considered for Magery to take int into account for damage (like combat does tact and str)? This would help the Tank Mage problem.
Stormwind - Your magery skill level (which determines the damage amount) is modified by your intelligence currently. * DD chuckles. Thanks, Nathaniel... we
DD - we're trying...

Glamdring - *Devon* Will there be magical items that raise other skills beside combat skills? Like a ring of bowcraft to improve the bowyer/fletcher skill for example.
DD - That's a good possibilityi for expansion to the magical item system.

Glamdring - *Alai* Will it be possible for monsters to break out of houses, helping the creatures trapped in houses problem?
Stormwind - Creatures will be able to move or walk around items. We are also considering having monsters damage houses if they are trapped inside.

Glamdring - *Fluffy* DD, Are there any plans to make the advancement curve for blacksmithy a little less extreme so it doesn't take 3 months solid work with no sleep ( not kidding here! ) to get to master smith?
DD - The advancement curve for a given skill is directly related to the popularity of the skill. We can change the curve slightly, and the overall pace, but only within certain boundaries
DD - It's very tricky to change it in a way that everyone feels happy with. I'll toss it onto the list, but no promises...

Glamdring - *Blastaar* Has the making of bone armor been considered? Possibly by using the bone acquired from a human corpse along with some cloth... perhaps only for master tailors?
DD - it's been considered, but it'd be nice to leave SOMETHING you cn only get from monsters, right? :)

Glamdring - *Falkayn* Will bowyers ever be able to repair bows? Tailors repair leather armor?
DD - Probably no, probably yes. In that order.

Glamdring - *Drax* Any chance of a person getting a bear mask after using a bladed item on a bear?
DD - A possibility. :)
DD - arrows, definitely.Fireballs... maybe.

Glamdring - *Rufus* Is there any chance that the parrying skill will become more important allowing you to be able to use shields to deflect arrows or fireballs?
DD - er, sorry, answered too fast ;)

Glamdring - Ladnar* Will GM healers ever be able to resurrect people? (with the proper subskills) :)
DD - We don't know. We're considering it, but we're also a little leery of it. So we're not sure.
DD - OK, that's the last question for the evening, but there are two things I'd like to talk to you all about real briefly...
DD - First is, I know there are many many people who are anxious to hear about UO Gold and what it means, and when there will be a beta test, and what features it will have
DD - You should expect a lot of info to start appearing on this really soon
DD - We've been very busy working on it, and it has a lot of things we feel current UO players will like a lot.
DD - It will also be nice once it is done to really get aggressive on upgrades to UO as a whole, so we are looking forward to that!
DD - The second thing is about Ultima:Ascension
DD - As you know, it's been on the minds of fans a lot, and there's a lot of controversy. :)
DD - Well, I urge anyone interested to go read this web page, which is a letter direct from Richard Garriott to you, the fans
DD - http://www.ultima-ascension.com/info/words.shtml
DD - It just went up today, and it's about as straight-shooting as you could want. :) So check it out if you are interested in U:A...
DD - That's it, I think. :) Catch ya at the next HoC meeting, and on the web boards and in r.g.c.u.o!

DenDragon - Alrighty, thanks for coming everyone!
XenaDragon - Thanks DD and Stormwind!
Stormwind - Thanks for coming!
Drax - Thanks DD an Storm!