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A Breakdown of Last Night’s UO Video House of Commons

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Update #2: Stratics has posted 40 minutes or so of the video. Part one is here at YouTube and you can follow through the other parts from there. They had problems with another 15-20 minutes or so. If they cannot recover that video, I’ll post the missing bit. My audio got out of sync though at some point, but I do have it all.

Update: I’ve had a lot of people ask me about posting a video, and yes, I could do it. It would be very easy – I would just have to split it into 10-minute segments for YouTube, and that would take me a good 5-10 minutes. I’m not interested in doing that since an official copy will probably be posted at some point, plus I don’t think all that much is gained from it at this point. They really jumped around on topics and it’s better to read the transcripts, or even better to read the summary below. What I might be willing to do is add on to the summary below, where each item was addressed in the transcript or how far into the video it was. If needed, I will post the video, but I’m sure they’ll make it available. I’m flying solo right now – the other person helping is out of town for the next week, and I probably spent a few hours on the transcript. I’ve got some other things to do on the site first.

I saw some criticism that it focused too much on items that people were getting or wanting to get in the short term rather than looking at UO in the long term. I don’t believe that is a fair criticism. If you look at everything thing that was actually said, when it’s grouped together, the criticism that it was focused on items starts to dry up. Certainly many people were asking about items, that was plain enough to see, but much of the actual discussion was tied to future plans, game mechanics, and other things that weren’t item-based.

I think we got a good glimpse of the bigger picture, it’s just that it was parceled out in small pieces. It’s very hard to see what a painting is when you are only seeing it in small pieces. What I decided to do, after spending a lot of time putting together a transcript, is bring you the bigger picture. I should have done this instead of a transcript, but I was half-way through the transcript before really deciding to do it.

What I have done is group all dev answers into their topics. I’ve included some specific quotes on certain issues, but all of the references below are tied directly to what was said, and are not speculation. They are not necessarily in order of reference within the transcripts.

If you’d like to read the full transcripts yourself, here they are:
* UO Video House of Commons Transcript, part 1
* UO Video House of Commons Transcript, part 2
* UO Video House of Commons Transcript, part 3
* UO Video House of Commons Transcript, part 4

March of 2011 / Publish 70
* Will see the restoration of Magincia
* Will see Publish 70 (tied to Magincia)
* More quest(s) and mobs for Abyss

Artwork – High Resolution / Enhanced Artwork
* Not going to be 100% pushed out at once
* Will be pushed out “in pieces”
* Cal: “One so you guys can see progress, and then two so that it actually looks like it’s planned, and then three, so we don’t miss anything.”
* When asked whether it would be new or higher resolution artwork, the devs had the audio and video muted/turned off while discussing it, and then responded that they will release more information in the future, and that it’s too early now.

Booster Packs
* Cal: “When you see the new items, you’ll probably see the new booster at the same time. ”
* May see “soon”
* Mesanna: “Okay, it’s not going to be a full-blown booster though.”

BOD Rewards / Gold (Bulk Order Deed)
* No clear answer on whether it’s being looked at.

Character Copy
* Vital to testing PVP Arena
* Will allow players to fully copy a character from their home shard to the Test Center, rather than building a new character on the TC. Will allow that character to remain on the original shard.
* Will only work with Test Centers
* Cannot be used to clone characters on live shards
* Maybe available before the end of March

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March 1, 2011 UO Video House of Commons Transcript Part 4

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This is part four of four, of the transcripts from last night’s Video House of Commons.

Other parts of the transcripts (four parts in total):
* Part 1 of the Transcript
* Part 2 of the Transcript
* Part 3 of the Transcript

As previously mentioned, I apologize in advance for any errors. If you notice any errors, please contact us and we’ll correct them as soon as possible. This transcript is taken from a video I recorded. It is hard to convey when they are talking over each other or when they seem excited or unsure of whether to answer something or to continue, so I would recommend you watch the video and judge for yourself if you have the time.

UOJournal.com Notes
(?) or *unintelligible* means I couldn’t quite understand it and maybe guessing.
* Cal = Calvin Crowner, UO Producer
* Mesanna = Bonnie Armstrong, UO Associate Producer, head of EMs
* Supreem = Derek Brinkman, UO Lead Engineer

Off Camera: Umm..the BOD rewards and gold amounts have long remained the same since AOS, could we have a quick update and new items to choose from, menu-style(?) and maybe a 10% increase in gold for (?)
Cal: I like that..(?) I just like..why don’t you just go ahead and add that on top of it
Off Camera: Well you know, when you’re talking to the developers…
Cal: Exactly
Off Camera: Might as well ask for everything
Cal: Can I get fries and whipped cream
Mesanna: Can I get fries with that
Cal: Exactly
Cal: I want a BOD with fries please.
Supreem: Noted
Cal: Bulk Order Fries
Mesanna: *laughs*
Cal: Do you want to table that one
Mesanna: Ummm…
Cal: You can table it
Mesanna: *nodding her head* yeah I don’t want to answer that one
Cal: Yeah you don’t want to answer that.
Cal: Bonnie is pleading the fifth. Go ahead

Off Camera: Uhh, have you ever thought of combining shards into one, for exactly Europa and
Cal: Yeah, yeah, we’ve thought about it
Supreem: It’s a big challenge…you know games like Warhammer Online which are very dependent on player populations, they have no choice but to merge servers because in order for that game to be fun, they need lots of players in the world. If you ask some of our UO players that are on a tiny shard do they want to move, they’ll probably say no. They like their small community, they like their friends, umm..you know, if you wanted to, you could get a character transfer and go to a more populated shard. Players don’t do it because they like their small communities. It’s very difficult to come up with a solution for that in our game because we have houses all over the world. Um…
Cal: And what he means by that is that like literally across the planet with different people (?) and different shards.
Supreem: There is a possibility of doing something similar to what Camelot (Dark Age of Camelot) does, which is, it’s called clustering where you take areas of the world and share them between servers. A lot of technology goes into doing something like that and it would be a major undertaking for us. We would basically have to neglect the game for a while to make that happen, which to us is just not worth it right now.
Cal: Right
Supreem: If our players like their small communities, they can stay there. If they want to go to a bigger shard, they can transfer.
Cal: Also the other side of that is how do you determine which ones you do, right, because the thing that we’ve learned about our community is not only is it vocal, but it’s dedicated and it’s been around a long time, so having to tell someone you know of 12 or 13 years, oh by the way we’re moving your stuff, that’s a really difficult, and I think honestly an unfair decision to have to ask somebody to do.

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Reminder: Ultima Online Video House of Commons Starting Soon

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As mentioned yesterday, the Ultima Online Video House of Commons will be online here in a little bit.

Website: Ultima Online House of Commons

UStream Channel: BioWare_Townhall

Time: March 1st, 7pm Eastern, 6pm Central, 4pm Pacific.

Title: Watch the Ultima Online Developers talk about UO past, present, and future.

Topics:
* Follow up to the Video Dev Diary released last week
* Current Story arc and events
* The Restoration of Magincia and the concept of the player-driven town
* Publish 70

If you miss it, if they don’t provide an archive copy, we will do so. If you want to ask questions, it would be wise to sign up for an account at UStream now.

Cal Talks About Classic Shard, UO Developer Video Diary, Announces Video House of Commons for March 1st, 2011

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If you are curious about the long-desired Ultima Online developer video diary that was first mentioned back in December, the one that was originally planned to be shown back in January, we have a lot more information. We have a long-delayed answer to the question of a so-called “Classic Shard”, and the answer is, not right now. We also have a reference to some major thing or things that happened between January 3rd and late February. Cal also mentions that the video is still coming.

To see these comments in their full context, as well as all of Cal’s comments, please read the the full UO.Stratics thread.

Here are the comments from Cal Crowner, the UO Producer, to start the thread off:

Yes, it’s done. So why isn’t it out? The answer to a “Why” question at the Academy is “No Excuse.” So let’s just go with that.

The intent was to frame several subjects about what we are doing for the remainder of the year in a few short minutes. Between editing and all the things that have happened between January 3rd and now, the answers have not changed, but the method in which we broadcast has many times.

Anyway, you are only waiting for one answer so here I am with flame-retardant mutant suit to field questions and avoid pitchforks.

The answer is: not right now.

In constant review of the threads and other fansites that cater to Ultima Online, we realized that the classic shard comes down to a checklist. It becomes about if you have X rules then this is what a classic shard is. The problem with this is, when working inside this constraint it’s impossible to please everyone.

Also, we DID look into the possibilities of different rulesets and took a look at what had been done in the past, and there was no viable answer that works for everyone.

Finally, it’s about opportunity cost. The more resources and time we spend on developing a classic shard… that is ONE single shard, that means other things get neglected. It would be many months of work at the expense of the wider game.

We are planning a Video House of Commons for next Tuesday, March 1st to field any questions about the coming months, Magincia as a player-driven town, Spring Cleaning, faster/simpler story arcs, arenas, UOgamecode store, shard hardware, and other topics of note.

The reason I did not want to put this in writing is because it doesn’t allow you to “see” how we feel about the game, and this answer is only part of what we want to do with Ultima Online.

Well, there you go. Have at it.

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