DenDragon - Greetings and thank you for attending tonight's Open House.
DenDragon - Tonight's topic is: "The New Shards, Etc.". Please phrase your questions accordingly.
DenDragon - Glamdring will be our moderator for this evening. In order to submit questions please /msg or /query Aphrodite, Fallo, Fot and Drax.
DenDragon - Please /msg different question-takers at different times, in order to balance the load and speed this process up. Do not msg anyone from OSI, myself or Glamdring--these questions will be ignored.

DesignerD - Hello everyone, and good evening. :)
DesignerD - I want to make just a brief statement before the chat really gets going... I saw the topic for this chat, and went "uh oh"
DesignerD - because I figured that what I'd get asked about would be np-PvP shards, all-PvP shards, Abyss shards, and Australian shards :)
DesignerD - So we were going to have Rich Vogel, our producer (he posts under the name "Dupre") to answer questions on those
DesignerD - But he's not here :(
DesignerD - So we may not be able to give you completely satisfactory or final answers to some q's on new shards, unfortunately.
DesignerD - Basically the story on new shards is that we need to have a demonstrated audience of a size to support the shard in place, and evidence of ongoing interest, in order to justify the cost
DesignerD - Because of that, I can't realy give you answers on when will there be new US shards, when will there be an Australian shard if ever, etc.
DesignerD - But if enough of you buy T2A in Oz, then it might happen, who knows? I imagine that if hundreds of thousands of folks bought it in Antarctica, there might be a shard there too. :P
DesignerD - Anyway, just wanted to make that clear. :)
DenDragon - Thanks for coming, everyone. We will now begin accepting questions.
DesignerD - So lt the chat begin :)

Glamdring - *Cryogen* I have been hoping to ask this question for a long time. I know myself and countless others liked the notoriety system and the
Glamdring - titles along with it. Is there possibly any hope that you would make a shard with the old system?
DesignerD - Probably not. We've moved past that design, and we're not inclined to go back. Now, if it was specific effects or results of the notoriety system, there might be ways to bring back aspects of it--but the system as a whole, no. Not even on Abyss.

Glamdring - *Reverend* Do you plan to ever bring the Abyss shard up again at random times of day or of the week? And possibly saving characters from time to time?
DesignerD - The Abyss was very popular as a special event. We plan to have more special events, as we have the excuse to do it and a cool idea for one. :) But we don't want to spoil the surprise on any of them...

Glamdring - *OkariaDragon* Why has Origin decided to take such a harsh stance in their license about UO emulators and other 3rd party shards?
Grond - I don't think the stance is harsh at all. If we put our name to anything it has to be something that we
Grond - feel comfortable endorsing.
Grond - If it is something that is related to an Origin title, we are very naturally going to want to make sure it is a quality product.

Glamdring - *Viraxius* do you anticipate that bard will have any capability to compose music or artist to paint pictures
DesignerD - Yes, we do hope to have that ability. We've wanted it for a long long time. Not sure when it will get done though.

Glamdring - *statik* Are they planning on slowing down the skill advancement on newer shards? Or will they raise fast?
DesignerD - They only raise fast for a little while, until the shard gets established.
DesignerD - We don

Glamdring - *Mako* I think the idea of "theme" shards (like the Abyss shard) is a very good one. Might we see more permanent shards like this? The opening movie talks about each instance of Britannia having its own unique history, nothing says they all have to be similar.
DesignerD - No plans for that at the moment. The character of the shards IS very different, shard to shard... but new themed shards would entail a LOT more work to support because it would be multiple codebases.

Glamdring - *Viraxius* what not currently craftable items do you anticipate to be craftable with the crafting patch?
DesignerD - There's been a list posted on the Update Center. In the next update, you get surcoats, leather caps, jester suits, and something else I don't remember.
DesignerD - In the big crafting changes, you get mostly the big furniture, like looms and forges and the like.
DesignerD - We also have plans to add a few new weapons, and gradually want to add in all the stuff that players might use to decorate houses and shops with.

Glamdring - *AndrewS* Are there any plans to make plain dough stackable to help the bakers out? Also, recipe books would be a good idea...
DesignerD - Hmm, no plans on it at the moment, but I am pleased to report that Toad has been going through the cooking skill fixing problems. :) I know today he worked on immvoable pizzas, making sure you can make cake, and a few other things. :)

Glamdring - *Dhymna* What is the word on channelling? When can we expect it?
DesignerD - Very soon. Quite possibly it will go in in the next update.
DesignerD - Not the one next week, but the one after that

Glamdring - *^Drew^* A freind said he made an exceptional plate tunic... has this changed or is he telling a big fish story?
DesignerD - He was probably playing on Test Center, where it is now possible to make exceptional breastplates. Also possible to get maker's marks on exceptional items if you are a GM, and possible to craft truly exceptional bows.

Glamdring - *Sav* Hi I was wondering since all these changes are being done to other skills if any new fun stuff would be made for alchemists as we are also a part of the UO Community.. on a side night I'd like to welcome back my friend Twiggy-2 who fought cancer is now back to play UO.. #UO missed ya twigster =).. Thanks DD =P
DesignerD - Well, actually, our pass at improving alchemy was done a while ago, when we added greater and lesser versions of potions. We have many other skills to visit first before we get back around to alchemy again. :( Sorry, I know that isn't the news you wanted to hear...
DesignerD - And welcome bak, Twiggy-2 :)

Glamdring - *Brage* Heard a roumor that you have all the code ready for the weapons patch. Is this true, and when will it be implementet?
Glamdring - *Brage* When will there be quests on th Euro-servers?
DesignerD - The *first stage* is all set and in place on the Test Center. There are a few weapons that some reports say are not quite perfect yet, but it's probably good enough to get published to the public shards next week.
DesignerD - Mind you,. this won't balance everything perfectly yet! There are some other code changes, particualrly to archery and "set up time" that will be required for that.
DesignerD - But this is a good first pass.
IronWill - the 2nd question about the euro-shards - since those shards are so relatively new. people are still getting to place their houses, gather items, and build their character...
IronWill - soon however expect seers, counselors, quests, and all the extras that will make them equal and up to par as the usa servers

Glamdring - *Dhymna* I anticipate a problem with the crafting patch. What's to stop an evil bug exploiter from crafting a loom in front of someones door after using an exploit to break in.
DesignerD - Two things: you won't be able to place that stuff unless you are the owner of the house (because it is not going in until after ownership is in) and 2, because you won't be able to put it next to a door.

Glamdring - *FrostByghte* I have a question!!! Is there any chance that some of these useless magic spells will be made useful? The majority of this pure mage's spellbook needs to be cleared, as most of the spells are too weak or have absolutely no point to them.
DesignerD - No firm plans just yet for that. :( We do wanna do it though. Actually, we wanna take a good hard look at the spells and see about MAKING them useful before we discard them.

Glamdring - *S_Nikademus* I've gotten requests from many players that the t2a lands stay house-free. They like the "open"ess of it. Thoughts on that?
DesignerD - Yep, we've thought about it, and we've seen the many polls and petitions. The new lands were designed to have housing, but we also carefully set aside locations for it. When housing is allowed, I am currently inclined to only allow it in certain locations.

Glamdring - *Element-L* DD, Will we ever get Seers or GMs running quests during the hours of other countrys. I'm an australian player and I rarely get
Glamdring - the chance to participate in events (unless i skip school/work)
Grond - Yes they will. When new servers are brought up, it take time to plan out the
Grond - fiction for those servers. However, rest assured that quests will be run on the new shards and
Grond - they will be run in relation to the time zones of those servers.

Glamdring - *Fool* When will monsters stop spawning in unreachable areas (Destard Level 4 Comes to mind the fire el's spawning on the ridge) it gets really annoying and the GMs rarely ever move them
DesignerD - Not sure when. :( It is unfortunately a really picky problem to solve. You know how I've said I'd like to redo the whole spawn map? Well, that would be when that gets fixed :P

Glamdring - *Seer_Adamantyr* My question: Melee weapon warriors are in a pretty bad place in UO right now. The new lands seem to encourage tank mages more than ever, since all the monsters require magic to fight. Weapon enhancments will help, but that won't make fighter-only trades more desirable over tank mages. Are there any plans to address this?
DesignerD - There's only so much you can do to address that. Magic in your group in T2A is going to be desirable because a diverse range of abilities is needed there. With the introduction of the new weapons damages, and of channeling coming shortly, we expect to see the start of more diversification among play styles.
DesignerD - The toughest monsters will be easier to take down by parties. And what I'd like to do to help that is to put in a grouping system so that fame and karma gained can be shared amoong the party. But we haven't really begun to talk about that yet.
DesignerD - (In fact, I just sprung it on Faceless right now.)
DesignerD - :)

Glamdring - *Dulak* Are you still going to implement the stamina loss per swing (warriors and archers) and wont this just lead to a 'new' thing refresh potions?
DesignerD - We haven't settled firmly on having that particular line item in our plan. To be honest, we want to see how these new weapons play out, and make changes that are very focused, rather than radical sweeping changes.

Glamdring - *Visionary* If I might ask, when will the blacksmith (colored plate) and house (change locks, and sell house) changes come into effect?
DesignerD - coloed plate not sure.
DesignerD - As far as the housing thing--we intend to post the plan for public comment TOMORROW.
DesignerD - the stuff in the explanation of the plan will cover the planned schedule for implementation.

Glamdring - *Morpheus* Have you ever thought of the idea of guild crests or a coat of arms for shields and armor to signify guildmembers and maybe in this way make guilds more of a *family* type organization?
DesignerD - Frankly, we'er worried about the amount of art and sotrage that is entailed by having coats of arms. Plus we can't do them on the small shields, only on the paperdoll. I have to admit, I haven't seen any problems with guilds maintaining identities or a sense of family!

Glamdring - *Marauder* How if at all will the parrying skill change with the weapon's update?
DesignerD - Not at all.

Glamdring - *Strac* Any thoughts on a renew shard, having shard that is wiped every 3 months or the like?
DesignerD - Sure--try Test Center. :)

Glamdring - *Dhymna* There was a rumor about possible new rules for the new shards. What did this refer too?
DesignerD - I think that was because of the topic for the chat tonight, which the House of Commons came up with, and because of the special event that was the Abyss. At this time, we don't have plans for differently themed shards.
DesignerD - However, we don't rule out the chance of more special event shards like Abyss in the future. :)

Glamdring - *Rev_erend* Have you ever thought of adding an aging characteristic to UO? Say, a character would after some months start to die ?
DesignerD - Yes.
DesignerD - Then we thought about how much you like skill atroph, and decided atrophying away an entire character would probably not go over real well.

Glamdring - *morganti* Wrestling needs to be stronger, any plans on making 'spiked gloves' or such for wrestlers?
DesignerD - Rightn ow, wrestling sucks. And right now, we don't have any plans to keep it from sucking. :( Spiked gloves and the like have indeed come up, but at the moment there's no plan.

Glamdring - *NilesMare* any plans on making magical items that increase skills instead of increasing combat. It would be nice for our crafters to have
Glamdring - items like a hammer of master smithing
DesignerD - That has indeed come up several times. No plans for it at the moment though.

Glamdring - *Morpheus* Instead of allowing houses in certain places in t2a (because if this happened one area that was permitted would be crammed to where you couldn't walk) why not only allow one or two player ran cities that are reviewed by GM's so the layout would be appropriate and it would prevent all the cramming.
DesignerD - We do not intend T2A to get ruined by excessive houses, never fear.

Glamdring - *Visionary* I have heard a rumor that there will be a new SKILLS cap, is this true and what will the cap be, and when will it be set in?
DesignerD - The rumor is false.

Glamdring - TD^Drizzt* With the creation of the new european servers any thoughts on making an australian server cuz one is desperatly needed.why or why not?
RVogel - There are no plans at this time for a shard in Austraila.

Glamdring - Jo* DD can you put in higher ingot yeild and or lower ore weight for us miners? Mining is just about the boringest (sp) thing you can do in this game help us out please.
DesignerD - No plans for that at the moment, sorry.

Glamdring - *Sutre* Are you planning on making miners able to mine gems and/or gold, if so, when?
DesignerD - Gems yes, gold no, and as part of the colored plate thing which is some months away probably. * DD can just see the game economy if you could mine gold coins. ;)

Glamdring - *Jadesfyre* Will there be more of a shift to trades and events after the tweeking of combat skills since UO potential is so much more than fighting. Fields yielding more resources, etc.
DesignerD - Actually, most things in this new update are actually craft-related, not combat related. :) So yes, such a shift is indeed taking place.

Glamdring - *^Milamber* hey dd, any more plans for another interview with borric at Uoss?
DesignerD - No plans for me... There has been talk of interviews with Desslock over at Gamespot, and with Mental over at Scorched, but I don't know what is coming of those.

Glamdring - *Joshua* Is there any chance of adding the ability to FLY so that we have another method to traverse the oceans and other obsticles (especially in T2A)?
DesignerD - Magic carpets are a possibility for someday. When, I don't know.

Glamdring - *Spazola* any plans to let gems recharge magic items and weapons?
DesignerD - No.

Glamdring - *Sphinx27* Are there any plans to reduce the "damming" of traffic flow in certain areas caused by lines of closely spaced houses? If so can you provide any details?
DesignerD - Sure, first we want to get rid of many of the houses. :) The plan on how we plan to implement house ownership will be posted for player comment tomorrow evening.

Glamdring - *Morpheus* With all the mountains in t2a, it kind of makes it hard to walk around. Have you thought of adding a mountain climbing ability, or just making it possible to walk up steep hills like normal human beings?
DesignerD - No--too much of the world has been designed with mountains being impassable in mind. :(

Glamdring - *Kieran_LOA* Have you ever thought about making it so that the server remembers your highest skill value, and if you drop below that value for that skill, and you try to do it again to get the skill back, it makes RE-advancement faster simulating the fact you didn't completely forget that skill, only that you're refreshing it/your memory? Why or why not?
DesignerD - We did think about it. It's a set of extra storage, of course, but that's not TOO big a deal. But we discarded it because it just doesn't really fit the skill system we're trying to get.

Glamdring - *Lael* Inscriptionists take a big hit upon failure, mana, regs and scroll. Any chance of a break here DD?
DesignerD - No plans for it right now. (Boy, I use that phrase a lot, don't i?)

Glamdring - *Halador* Question for DD: What is it like to have control over what thousands of other people experience?
DesignerD - Well, first off, anyone who thinks I have control over you lot clearly hasn't been reading the boards. ;)
DesignerD - Second, anyone who thinks I have the control should remember there's a bunch of other folks here on the team too. :)
DesignerD - But if you rephrase it to cover everyone on the team--well, mostly it feels like a heck of a lot of responsibility, really.
DesignerD - Everyone is very passionate about the game and their experience, and they all have different takes on what it should be like. And we have to try to keep them all happy.
DesignerD - So it's tiring, and can get to be exhausting. But it is also a lot of fun when we see people taking this world we made and doing their own things with it.
DesignerD - But feeling "like gods"--you honestly don't get the time to feel that way, and you sure don't have the freedom to do whatever you want. Anything we do, we have to go "will players go for that change? will they abuse it?"
DesignerD - It's kinda like, the more control you get, the more you realize how little you actually have, and how important the players are to the whole process.
RVogel - We all work as a team...and we watch and read the boards all the time. It is really feedback from our players that make this game...not us.

DenDragon - well, that's the end of tonight's conference
DenDragon - we'd like to thank everyone for attending
DenDragon - the log will be posted at uohoc.stratics.comin a few minutes
RVogel - Thanks for eveyone coming