Kehleyr|Stratics - Evening all...
Kehleyr|Stratics - Thank you for coming to tonight's Ultima Online open house. This Stratics House of Commons chat is a direct connection between you the players and the designers and programmers of Ultima Online.
Kehleyr|Stratics - This chat will be in a moderated format. To ask a question of the developers, please /msg or /query the question takers that will be listed in the topic of the channel. These question takers will then present the questions to the Ultima Online development & community teams here with us this evening
Kehleyr|Stratics - I will be our moderator tonight...I will post your question into the House of Commons chat channel and the Developers will answer those that they can. Please /msg or /query different question-takers at different times, in order to balance the load and speed the process up.
Kehleyr|Stratics - Please remember that your question may have been asked previously or may not be able to be answered in a public forum. Please do not message or query myself or anyone from OSI, these questions will be ignored. We encourage you to read the logs of the previous Open Houses, which are available at http://uohoc.stratics.com.
Kehleyr|Stratics - Our question takers are beans and Destiny :)

Kehleyr|Stratics - *Sub_Zero* QUESTION: Is there an ETA for the first week of the next scenario?
Calandryll_OSI - Sort of. We are planning on releasing the barkeeper next week. But, the next week of the scenario will not occur the following week.
Calandryll_OSI - The reason for this is so we can have some more time to sure up testing on the rest of the scenario
Calandryll_OSI - and to let players get a barkeep before the actual scenario starts.

Kehleyr|Stratics - *KaZuL* Will the 2D client be cycled out in the future of Ultima Online? How will you compete with up and coming MMORPGs?
Prophet - We plan on supporting the 2d client for the indefinite future. That's not to say some point far in the future we will drop support for it but that time is easily years away.
Prophet - As for how we will compete we haven't had a problem yet with this and with our ongoing content and improvements to both our clients I don't really see this as a big issue.

Kehleyr|Stratics - *Bronco* With resource gathering people can cut hides instantly with a tool into leather and logs instantly to boards to make it a lot easier to gather them. With mining however people need to have packhorses to carry their ore and walk around with them to find a forge. Will miners ever going to get it easier to gather ore/ingots?
Evocare - Funny how that works eh? No plans to change that right now though. =]

Kehleyr|Stratics - *Magellan_THB* Is a fix in the works for the vanq/invuln spawn on level 4 and 5 maps?
Evocare - yep, it'll get toned down soon.

Kehleyr|Stratics - *Virem|KoC* When can we expect 4th year rewards to be working?
Evocare - It's hard to say at this point... we need to wait until our current system and rewards are running smoothly before we add any more to the vet rewards plate right now. However, we do still plan on implementing the 4th year rewards.

Kehleyr|Stratics - *Ave* has the PH been fixed?
Prophet - A fix is currently in testing. The system will change a bit from what you are used to though. It's going to be 1 hour every 24 hours with a minimum of 23 hours between power hours. We should have a schedule for its release next week.

Kehleyr|Stratics - *Zypheus* I'd like to ask Them a question...Why does OSI always back away from adding in new art, and when can we expect some? Or are you just testing out the new tech. to do it? I'd appreciate an answer, as I've posted twice about the topic, and BOTH were deleted...
Evocare - Well, I wouldn't say we always back away from it... the scenarios have already added new art for the 3rd dawn client. The 2d client has not yet recieved new art due to long standing technology problems, but we'll see if that changes someday in the not too distant future... ;]
Calandryll_OSI - Adding new art like new monsters to the 2d client has major issues, especially related to patch size
Calandryll_OSI - we have added some new art to the 2d client though, mostly gump (windows) art, like for the barkeeper

Kehleyr|Stratics - *Nadia* With the recent changes to PvP, has the Dev team given any consideration to removing house hiding? I don't see why you should be able to turn the corner on some random house and with 0 hiding skill, disappear on the doorstep. Maybe if it was your house, or if you were friended at least....?
Oaks - We are constantly looking for improvements to both PvP and PvM, although hiding near houses has not been a large-scale imbalance. It's certainly something we can look into with our next batch of PvP enhancements... but no promises. =)

Kehleyr|Stratics - *Draegon* When do you expect a majority of the siege changes to be implemented?
Evocare - We're expecting those changes to go live in the very near future.

Kehleyr|Stratics - *ghyde* When will Veteran Rewards be released to the rest of the shards? What is the hold-up now?
Prophet - The problem that surfaced with vet rewards was not in our code at all but with the poor network connectivity last week between the shards and the veteran reward server. We came up with a solution to deal with the network problems and have completed coding for it.
Prophet - The changes are currently being tested (you can catch them on Test Center 2). We should be getting a release schedule for rewards next week.

Kehleyr|Stratics - *Farnite* Is there any "thing" to be announced as a new release (New expansion, new lands, etc) at the world faire?
Cynthe - We do have things up our sleeves that we think will make a lot of players really happy, but we can't really talk about it yet. You'll have to come to the Faire to hear the scoop!

Kehleyr|Stratics - *Draegon* With the sucess of other MMORPGs that have had sucessful add-ons and new lands will you ever consider adding another world/land?
Evocare - You mean like the T2A lost lands or 3rd Dawn's Illshenar continent? New lands, that's crazy talk!

Kehleyr|Stratics - *BLD|Zuldan* ask them if siege will be getting rewards first when (if ever) they fix it?
Prophet - Siege will be getting rewards first yes
Prophet - It has some unique problems last time (again network related) that are now fixed.

Kehleyr|Stratics - *CrazyIrishman|Gulthuk|* Why did you decide to include Hero/Evil in with factions? It seems factions is being forced upon us
Adrick-OSI - It seemed a natural fit
Adrick-OSI - in its first release alot of the special interactions caused many bugs and exploits
Adrick-OSI - since faction interactions are prety solid we added the powers of the good/evil system into that interaction system

Kehleyr|Stratics - *Bronco* Archery seems a ignored skill, a bow is a two handed weapon (can't use shield for protection) and it has no extra special attack which all other 2-handed weapons have. Also it uses a lot of ammunition and even with GM archery, GM anatomy, GM tactics and a tummy full of food (ok, it is not certain it helps but if it would I rather be save then sorry) I tend to miss 2 out of 3 times. When will archery be a competative fighting skill?
Evocare - Although I find archery to be very effective in PvM, I do acknowledge that it could use some help in PvP (monsters don't run away from arrows quite like players do). Unfortunately, this is a condition that has become more exaggerated as players' connections have improved over the years.
Evocare - Once we're comfortable with how the recent combat changes have panned out, we'll be looking for ways to continue to make improvements in the future (and archery will recieve its due consideration).

Kehleyr|Stratics - *Shadowcat_East* What is the status on taming issues? Will we ever see fixes to the veterinary bugs (z-axis and healing bugs)? What is the status on the "in concept" lore changes?
Evocare - Honestly, I don't know the status on the vet issues you mention (they may already be part of a legacy bugfix patch that is still in QA).
Evocare - As far as the lore changes go, they'll be coming "soon" (ever hear that before ;] )

Kehleyr|Stratics - *Chase* Will the three year old bug of invisible walls that plague Felluca on most of the shards ever be fixed, right now there are many impassible walls and wasted land that have these walls which could hold many homes
Prophet - This is actually the first I hear of this. I'll look into what it causing this. That's all I can say now

Kehleyr|Stratics - *Rascal-TB* Factions has been left in a broken state and ignored far to long. When will it recieve the attention it deserves?
Adrick-OSI - Alot of the faction system bugs and issues is addressed in publish 13
Adrick-OSI - I understand Ive been saying that for some time and that alot are frustrated - all I can say is Im sorry but it is a very important system and is not forgotten just delayed
Evocare - Unfortunately there have been several cases where the QA resources for publish 13 have been shuffled around to address immediate priorities, which is why that publish has been in limbo for some time.
Evocare - The fixes in that publish certainly are of very high importance, and we'll be working to get those tested and out to the public as soon as we feasibly can.

Kehleyr|Stratics - *Beleth[OES]* Is OSI even considering a guild alliance system. It is wanted by MANY MANY people and will basicly help everyone in the game in one way or another...
Evocare - Unfortunately, the guild alliance systems that players have been asking for are generally pretty incompatible with all the player interaction issues related to our guild war, faction, and order/chaos systems.
Evocare - There are a number of very problematic interactions that need to be solved (looting, legal healing during battle, etc) before we can really implement an alliance system.
Evocare - Although it is do-able, it's something that will require very extensive re-working of current systems in addition to the creation of the alliance system, which makes it a very high-cost feature in terms of development time. Unfortunately, it's hard to find time for high-cost features.
Evocare - That being said, we do realize that lots of players would like to have an alliance system.

Kehleyr|Stratics - *koala* Will stamina for mounts be returning to what it was before the march 13th patch?
Prophet - This is a known issue. We have looked into it though we don't have a full fix for it yet. It will be something that is addressed in due time.

Kehleyr|Stratics - *Shadowcat_East* Is there any possibility of adding new potions to the Alchemist menu to be made by using a heating stand or other method (such as combining multiple reagents)?
Evocare - The crafting revamp in development allows us to create new craftables much more easily. I expect the event team will probably make extensive use of that benefit. =]

Kehleyr|Stratics - *mixilplix* Factioners using public gates as PVP arenas is very disturbing to those of us not infactins. They clog up and block gates. When will this issue be addressed?
Adrick-OSI - Publish 13 has code to prevent gate hopping while you are an agressor
Adrick-OSI - I think this will stop alot of what is going on now with regard to the public moongate system

Kehleyr|Stratics - *Fear_BV* Are there are any plans to finish the patch that includes a Castle for Fear?
Evocare - That patch has been finished for years... it just can't seem to pass QA!

Kehleyr|Stratics - *Mindwhip|bored_with_UO* If you could be a pink fluffy bunny, what would your name be and why?
Prophet - Fuzzy Bunny because Bunny Fuz
Oaks - Who said I wasn't one already?

Kehleyr|Stratics - I would like to thank everyone for coming tonight and a special thanks to the UO staff for taking time out of their day to sit and chat with us a while. Please join us for continued, unmoderated chat in #ultima-online
Kehleyr|Stratics - The logs of this chat will be posted soon on the Stratics website