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