Meandering thoughts about New Legacy and Housing

Arroth_Thaiel

Housing:

-Surface world housing limited to 1 per paid account?

-Still on the 90 day decay? Will that delay time be altered and your house will drop immediately if you don't pay your account? With such limited space, immediate housing decay might be necessary.

-Placing a castle/keep/tower limited to guilds of a certain size?

-Limited castle/keep/tower locations? Might be nice to only see 8 castles on the world. What would happen if your guild had to complete something significant to be awarded a castle and the plot was awarded to you in a ceremony RP'd by King Blackthorn in character at Blackthorns Castle? RP opportunity there for ya Dev's.

-Housing tilesets limited? No more glacial borg cubes? Can control the visual presentation of the game world as it's put before a larger audience.

-Housing tilesets linked to area of influence? All houses within x-distance of Skara Brae can only be built with a thatched roof, etc.? Would allow for the development of thematic art consistency within the game world.

-Housing placement linked to city loyalty? Can only place within x-distance if you are citizen/knight/duke?

-Housing size linked to city loyalty or seasonal accomplishment? You must do this for this city and be of this loyalty to the city before you can place a house of this size within this distance of the city? Larger houses of the titled class closer, the mere citizens out further?

-Will there be instanced housing in Inn's or Apartments for those who aren't lucky enough to get a house during the season? Going to be rough for resource gathers and crafters if they can't get a house.

-Housing linked to seasonal accomplishment? X-number of housing spaces are reserved for fishers (miners, lumberjacks, etc). You must achieve X amount of standing with the fishers guild and you will be awarded a housing space?

-Only natural and plant dyes for housing pavers? Hell, only natural and plant dyes for anything! Remove the neon nightmare that is production and return the game to it's original artistic themes?

-Housing upkeep? Giant stone castles require so much stone per week or you lose the spot and someone else can place, etc.

-Castle sieges? Guilds that opt into PvP can attack each others strongholds? Theives can sneak into opposing strongholds and loot'em dry? Traps to defend against Raiders/Theives?

-LoS issues addressed so that mages and archers can stand on the upper level and rain down hell on the sieging?

-Siege weapons? Structure integrity? Hit points for walls/doors? How about a new "Engineering" skill with Architect - to buff your house, Shipwright - to buff your ship, and Combat Engineer to build your siege weapons. Blow the doors in and RAID!

 

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New Legacy is going to open up a lot of options. 

Bilbo

This is a training shard and IMHO houses should be limited to 9x9 classic only with 1000-2000 storage due to limited land mass

keven2002

I agree @Bilbo since Legacy seems to be more of a shard for new/returning players to kind of get their feet under them before a shard wipe; I don't think there should be large homes like castle/keep because after all they will only be temporary. Another issue that this would prevent is the shard transfer at the end with a full castle of things (assuming xfer will be max of 125 pack items and 125-150 bank items) and players complaining about not being able to transfer everything (even though they were told total house contents wouldn't transfer).

dvvid

It’s not a “training shard”. 

Pawain

We should have more freedom!  Not more restrictions.  

NL will be a boom to the pay vaults!

Pawain

keven2002 said:

I agree @ Bilbo since Legacy seems to be more of a shard for new/returning players to kind of get their feet under them before a shard wipe; I don't think there should be large homes like castle/keep because after all they will only be temporary. Another issue that this would prevent is the shard transfer at the end with a full castle of things (assuming xfer will be max of 125 pack items and 125-150 bank items) and players complaining about not being able to transfer everything (even though they were told total house contents wouldn't transfer).

That is totally untrue. Advanced players are going to go here to show off their skills at everything UO.

Bilbo

dvvid said:

It’s not a “training shard”. 

What would you call it.  It is not a normal shard and it is wiped clean once a year with a one way xfer of the new char you just built.

Bilbo

Pawain said:

We should have more freedom!  Not more restrictions.  

NL will be a boom to the pay vaults!

How do you figure.  It is a temp shard for building toons to xfer to reg UO shards once a year.  depending what the skill training is like I don't even think 1000 items would be need to just train up toons.  I just hope it is not to much different than UO is or people starting their UO exp. there might be disappointed in the diff. play style.  People playing on other shards mainly use their bank and packs to play because of the one house rule so just a little 9x9 would be great.

McDougle

My worry is that it will be popular taking people from already low population shards and having them play on new shard even if just for a season will make things worse less items being created or farmed to sell etc etc Atlantic can handle this even if half the players took the time to play it would still be the fullest busiest shard Pac not so much Origin even worse. now if the short term loss of people playing daily on Pac meant an increase in players after the shattering it might be worth it, but that's a big if..

Pawain

Bilbo said:

Pawain said:

We should have more freedom!  Not more restrictions.  

NL will be a boom to the pay vaults!

How do you figure.  It is a temp shard for building toons to xfer to reg UO shards once a year.  depending what the skill training is like I don't even think 1000 items would be need to just train up toons.  I just hope it is not to much different than UO is or people starting their UO exp. there might be disappointed in the diff. play style.  People playing on other shards mainly use their bank and packs to play because of the one house rule so just a little 9x9 would be great.

Where are yall getting that it is a training shard?  It is a seasonal shard like other games have, And in other games the majority of players play on those seasonal shards.

Melchiah

Perhaps that guilds, or players, that help and are present season after season build up enough housing allowances to place larger and larger houses? Have guild of 20+, have large tower?

For all we know the first season all you’re allowed to build will be tents in the wilderness. Finally camping will have a use again... but no. No camping. Please. 

Bilbo

Pawain said:

Bilbo said:

Pawain said:

We should have more freedom!  Not more restrictions.  

NL will be a boom to the pay vaults!

How do you figure.  It is a temp shard for building toons to xfer to reg UO shards once a year.  depending what the skill training is like I don't even think 1000 items would be need to just train up toons.  I just hope it is not to much different than UO is or people starting their UO exp. there might be disappointed in the diff. play style.  People playing on other shards mainly use their bank and packs to play because of the one house rule so just a little 9x9 would be great.

Where are yall getting that it is a training shard?  It is a seasonal shard like other games have, And in other games the majority of players play on those seasonal shards.

And at the end of those other games do you get to Xfer your toon into the main game?

Bilbo

Melchiah said:

Perhaps that guilds, or players, that help and are present season after season build up enough housing allowances to place larger and larger houses? Have guild of 20+, have large tower?

For all we know the first season all you’re allowed to build will be tents in the wilderness. Finally camping will have a use again... but no. No camping. Please. 

If everything is wiped then how do you build from season to season?  Are you allowed to keep using the same toon every season, where will they be saved while the shard is wiped?

Arroth_Thaiel

Bilbo said:

And at the end of those other games do you get to Xfer your toon into the main game?

In the seasonal games I have participated in, yes.

Bilbo said:

If everything is wiped then how do you build from season to season?  Are you allowed to keep using the same toon every season, where will they be saved while the shard is wiped?

You don't build from season to season. Each season is a fresh start. The seasonal toons are transferred to production, where you can keep playing them if you choose. At least in the games I've played.

Pawain

Bilbo said:

Pawain said:

Where are yall getting that it is a training shard?  It is a seasonal shard like other games have, And in other games the majority of players play on those seasonal shards.

And at the end of those other games do you get to Xfer your toon into the main game?

In Diablo III the toon goes to your bank of toons when done with seasons.

Next season you begin again with a fresh toon. 

Bilbo

Arroth_Thaiel said:

Bilbo said:

And at the end of those other games do you get to Xfer your toon into the main game?

In the seasonal games I have participated in, yes.

Bilbo said:

If everything is wiped then how do you build from season to season?  Are you allowed to keep using the same toon every season, where will they be saved while the shard is wiped?

You don't build from season to season. Each season is a fresh start. The seasonal toons are transferred to production, where you can keep playing them if you choose. At least in the games I've played.

Pawain said:

Bilbo said:

Pawain said:

Where are yall getting that it is a training shard?  It is a seasonal shard like other games have, And in other games the majority of players play on those seasonal shards.

And at the end of those other games do you get to Xfer your toon into the main game?

In Diablo III the toon goes to your bank of toons when done with seasons.

Next season you begin again with a fresh toon. 

So in those other games what would you consider those seasonal shards to be if not for training yourself on game play and a toon on skills.  Do they differ from the normal game?  What are you allowed to keep?

Promathia

Bilbo said:

Arroth_Thaiel said:

Bilbo said:

And at the end of those other games do you get to Xfer your toon into the main game?

In the seasonal games I have participated in, yes.

Bilbo said:

If everything is wiped then how do you build from season to season?  Are you allowed to keep using the same toon every season, where will they be saved while the shard is wiped?

You don't build from season to season. Each season is a fresh start. The seasonal toons are transferred to production, where you can keep playing them if you choose. At least in the games I've played.

Pawain said:

Bilbo said:

Pawain said:

Where are yall getting that it is a training shard?  It is a seasonal shard like other games have, And in other games the majority of players play on those seasonal shards.

And at the end of those other games do you get to Xfer your toon into the main game?

In Diablo III the toon goes to your bank of toons when done with seasons.

Next season you begin again with a fresh toon. 

So in those other games what would you consider those seasonal shards to be if not for training yourself on game play and a toon on skills.  Do they differ from the normal game?  What are you allowed to keep?

If anything, the main game is the training for the seasonal stuff. After the season, you can earn multiple types of rewards such as achievements, cosmetics, pets, etc.

Bilbo

Promathia said:

Bilbo said:

Arroth_Thaiel said:

Bilbo said:

And at the end of those other games do you get to Xfer your toon into the main game?

In the seasonal games I have participated in, yes.

Bilbo said:

If everything is wiped then how do you build from season to season?  Are you allowed to keep using the same toon every season, where will they be saved while the shard is wiped?

You don't build from season to season. Each season is a fresh start. The seasonal toons are transferred to production, where you can keep playing them if you choose. At least in the games I've played.

Pawain said:

Bilbo said:

Pawain said:

Where are yall getting that it is a training shard?  It is a seasonal shard like other games have, And in other games the majority of players play on those seasonal shards.

And at the end of those other games do you get to Xfer your toon into the main game?

In Diablo III the toon goes to your bank of toons when done with seasons.

Next season you begin again with a fresh toon. 

So in those other games what would you consider those seasonal shards to be if not for training yourself on game play and a toon on skills.  Do they differ from the normal game?  What are you allowed to keep?

If anything, the main game is the training for the seasonal stuff. After the season, you can earn multiple types of rewards such as achievements, cosmetics, pets, etc.

So the seasonal stuff is to get stuff to boost your toons in the reg. game.  So then the seasonal play is for advance stuff not beginner stuff to take over to the main game.

Promathia

Season stuff rewards you with cosmetics, what you get being based on what goals/achievements you managed to accomplish. It gives you a reason to keep coming back and play the game, as each new season is another reason to start the game and earn your goals. You dont even need to keep playing seasons the whole duration, once you hit the goals for w/e rewards you wanted to earn, you can just log off or go back to playing nonseasonal characters (Unless you are trying to leaderboard stuff). After the season, you get to move your character over, and you get to bring over most of the stuff you obtained. 

Diablo 3 seasons last 3 months, so a season lasting a year for this UO server is a loooooong time in comparison.

Arroth_Thaiel

Bilbo said:

So in those other games what would you consider those seasonal shards to be if not for training yourself on game play and a toon on skills.  Do they differ from the normal game?  What are you allowed to keep?

I personally think of seasons as just starting from scratch. It'd be like if you played Mass Effect or Fallout and finished the game and didn't have anything left to do, so you just started a new playthrough.

With UO (and other persistent world games) you or I could choose to wipe a toon and start from scratch at any time. However, the rest of the game world didn't do that. Every other player would still be loaded with stuff from years of play. Even if we started a new toon on a new shard in UO, that new shard would have had a decade of development and be loaded with stuff.

A season concept restarts the entire world for everyone that plays on it. It also allows the developers to try wildly different things with each season, since everyone knows up front nothing will last. Sometimes seasons are identical to the base game, sometimes they are very different.

As for what you take with you, in my experience it's anything picked up during season. That'd be gear, gold, experience (both for the toon, and for you - especially if you're trying a different build), a bunch of cosmetic items, and records of everything that toon accomplished during the season.

One other aspect of seasons is that it allows groups to all play at the same level. If you've been begging someone to come play UO, but you'd have to carry them, and they don't want to constantly be a bother, this is a chance for everyone to be at the same point.

Honestly I played alot, ALOT, of seasons in Diablo III. Think I'm pretty much seasoned out. I'll just hang on Pac and do m'thing. Wish UO the best of luck with it though. Be fun to watch!

Pawain

Promathia said:

Diablo 3 seasons last 3 months, so a season lasting a year for this UO server is a loooooong time in comparison.

Yes. a year is way too long.  They should make skills go up faster and finish a season in 3 or 6 months.

dvvid

Bilbo said:

dvvid said:

It’s not a “training shard”. 

What would you call it.  It is not a normal shard and it is wiped clean once a year with a one way xfer of the new char you just built.

It’s like an Ultima rpg game that takes place in the framework of UO. When you play a single player game, you don’t even think about what you own in the end. The game is over. This is just like that only hybridized with an mmorpg. 

dvvid

You get to take some items with you and a character if you’d like. Tbh I don’t see much value in transferring the character but the unique items is a nice memorabilia kind of thing. 

The new shard is the experience of playing a game as opposed to owning things in a world. It’s not what UO has been for a lot of people but it is what the Ultima series has been for others. 

Melchiah

Bilbo said:

Melchiah said:

Perhaps that guilds, or players, that help and are present season after season build up enough housing allowances to place larger and larger houses? Have guild of 20+, have large tower?

For all we know the first season all you’re allowed to build will be tents in the wilderness. Finally camping will have a use again... but no. No camping. Please. 

If everything is wiped then how do you build from season to season?  Are you allowed to keep using the same toon every season, where will they be saved while the shard is wiped?

Follow-up posters have answered the bit about characters - I’m more angling towards the reworking of the old NPC guilds. Be part of the Smith’s Guild, use their houses or guild halls, have a vault you can use, accelerated gains and the like. Could be a way to bring those old systems back into use without relying on housing or SoA / SoT to gain quicker. 

Do the same for each play style or template as most are already in the game and you’ve got some version of skill tokens and advanced templates that aren’t needed anymore. 

keven2002

Without going too much further off the housing topic for Legacy (I think there should be a size limit) I think it will be focused at new/returning players.

The mission of the whole announcement leading up to it was to "bring the largest audience to Ultima...". It wasn't to "reconfigure shard populations and gather the most people to one place".  

I do think that with the game being so old and having so many nuances that it can be an overwhelming thing to start all over on a live shard so having Legacy will give them an opportunity to get a taste of things and become pretty good so that when they transfer to another shard they have a self sufficient character. 

Sure some vets will go there to check it out but it's going to be purely for vanity reasons where at the end they transfer to their home shard and add all the new "rares" they get to their overstocked houses. If there aren't a bunch of "Legacy only" rares being generated then the vet population will not stick around.