Some Suggestions/Observations (Long)
Spatch
Hello,
I have been playing UO for one week now and have a few suggestions and
observations I would like to share. I am cc'ing this to Origin's support
but doubt much will come of it.
1. Why do NPC storekeepers move at all? I think it would be much better if
they just sat in one position in a store and waited for business. It is
REALLY frustrating to get to the bank and find that the banker is not in the
bank but outside. You go outside to talk to him and POOF he is back in the
bank. Is anyone going to argue that this makes UO better because they are
moving around? Also this would cut down on some network traffic as that is
1 (and sometimes up to 4) moving characters the game doesn't have to worry
about. Also since these players are local to the server, and we are all
having lag problems, they move around the stores like a bat out of hell and
are very hard to click on to make sure you get the right one
(cobbler/provisioner/random NPC for example) and when you walk up to one and
then start to type "Hello" he hightails it to the other side of the store.
Also, several of the NPC clerks have the bad habit of standing right inside
the door creating a huge traffic jam.
SOLUTION: NPC store clerks/bankers/etc.. will be in one position in a store
not scattered around the map. That way they are always there when you need
them. They are in a good location (away from doors, etc..) and the game
will not have to worry about redrawing their moving character.
2. The more heavily traveled stores need to be redesigned. By this I mean
that they need to have two doors minimum and preferably in two different
places.The ones I am talking about are the heavily traveled stores like
armories, banks, provisioners, etc.. There should be two openings in all
heavily traveled stores/banks.
SOLUTION: Find out which stores are causing traffic jams and redesign them
to alleviate the pressure.
3. Animals should be BANNED from all public buildings. There is nothing
worse then trying to get in the "Hammer and Anvil" in Britain and having two
guys on horses inside the building blocking the doors. What's next, someone
going to bring a dragon into the bank? This also alleviates some of the
problems with number 1 above because there can be several animals in a store
at the same time and that is several more moving objects the servers and
clients have to worry about displaying.
SOLUTION: When someone tries to bring an animal into the store the game
will give a message similar to "Please don't bring your animal in my store,
player name".
4. All physical skills should increase strength/dexterity to some extent.
I played a miner/smith for 6 hours mining/smelting/smithing ore into weapons
with NO change in my initial characteristics. I talked to a friend who told
me to go to the dummy training areas and after 25 minutes of hitting the
dummy my strength raised 4 points. Is this something that is currently
being worked on by the programmers? I have heard some rumors to this effect
so I will wait to see what happens.
5. Thievery should get a jail sentence instead of death. I actually played
a rogue for a day and if I got caught I just went and found a healer, dyed
my robe a different color and went back to thieving. It was hardly a
deterrent to stop thieving because I could be back in business within 10
minutes.
SOLUTION: Keep the rogues but if they get caught send them to jail for
maybe 1 game day (2 hours?).
6. Why can I not repair a pick axe? I am an apprentice smith and can build
cool weapons and armor but I cannot repair a pick axe?
SOLUTION: Allow smiths or someone to repair pick axes/shovels. This may be
the tinkerer but I am not sure.
7. GUNPOWDER DISCOVERED IN BRITANNIA!!!!!!!! Look on the northeast corner
of Lord British's castle and I'll be damned if there isn't a cannon and a
pile of cannon balls there.
Not really a problem but thought it was interesting as I had been told there
was no gunpowder/guns in the UO world.
8. Lot of problems with NULL string references in the game. I hope this
gets fixed soon as it is pretty annoying to go into a store and see a bunch
of "NULL 25GP" items in a shopkeepers list of wares.
SOLUTION: A quick solution would be to change the game so that if string
length is 0 then display "Unidentified Item" or something other than NULL as
this detracts from the game experience.
9. Don't remove notoriety enhancement through donations. I think this is
EXTREMELY accurate and if players take advantage of it so be it. I give
gold to beggars which I could use to buy items with and this also gives the
beggar some money to buy a bottle of vino. If you started giving away
hundreds of gold pieces in the middle ages you would very quickly become a
popular and very highly regarded citizen.
10. Got this idea from another post but it would be kind of neat to have a
"Lloyds of Britain" insurance agency. You could purchase a policy for x
amount and if you are killed you claim your insurance for y gold. There is
a problem with this though as I could see insurance scams becoming rampant.
Joe Blow buys an insurance policy for 1000 gp and pays 100 gp for it. He
then walks out into woods and his accomplice kills him after which Joe Blow
goes back into town, gets resurrected by a healer, and claims his insurance
check which he promptly splits with his accomplice.
This is all I have for now. I am having fun playing the game except for the
interminable lag especially in popular buildings. Hopefully the game will
get this stuff worked out and we will have a better product to play.
Spatch
--
Please remove the 'x' from my address when responding.
Spatch
Doug Bora wrote in message <63oecl$ggs$1...@hirame.wwa.com>...
>
>: SOLUTION: When someone tries to bring an animal into the store the game
>: will give a message similar to "Please don't bring your animal in my
store,
>: player name".
>
>Horses aren't really a good example. While they look big, they really
>only take up the same amount of space as a human does in reality. Still,
>I don't understand why there aren't hitching posts in front of all stores
>for parking your horse at.
>
Are you sure about this? I am not as I never have had a horse but it sure
looks like it takes up two spaces/squares to a human's one.
Spatch
Doug Bora
: SOLUTION: Find out which stores are causing traffic jams and redesign them
: to alleviate the pressure.
Agree strongly. Complained about this during beta. No change. All major
shops should have double doors and all double doors should BOTH open at
the same time! This occurs in places like Vesper, but in other towns only
one side opens still. It's really annoying. Both the double doors and
having them both open at the same time really improves traffic flow in and
out of buildings.
: SOLUTION: When someone tries to bring an animal into the store the game
: will give a message similar to "Please don't bring your animal in my store,
: player name".
Horses aren't really a good example. While they look big, they really
only take up the same amount of space as a human does in reality. Still,
I don't understand why there aren't hitching posts in front of all stores
for parking your horse at.
: 4. All physical skills should increase strength/dexterity to some extent.
: I played a miner/smith for 6 hours mining/smelting/smithing ore into weapons
: with NO change in my initial characteristics. I talked to a friend who told
: me to go to the dummy training areas and after 25 minutes of hitting the
: dummy my strength raised 4 points. Is this something that is currently
: being worked on by the programmers? I have heard some rumors to this effect
: so I will wait to see what happens.
There's still some sort of strength bug I think.
: SOLUTION: Keep the rogues but if they get caught send them to jail for
: maybe 1 game day (2 hours?).
Been suggested hundreds of times. It'll never happen. These people are
paying customers afterall. I think a fine levied against them when caught
is a reasonable comprimise.
: 8. Lot of problems with NULL string references in the game. I hope this
: gets fixed soon as it is pretty annoying to go into a store and see a bunch
: of "NULL 25GP" items in a shopkeepers list of wares.
:
: SOLUTION: A quick solution would be to change the game so that if string
: length is 0 then display "Unidentified Item" or something other than NULL as
: this detracts from the game experience.
I think you misunderstand the problem. This is a bug in the listing
routine, not items that aren't misidentified. Currently if you see this,
just close the buy window and reopen it. Usually this fixes the nulls.
: 9. Don't remove notoriety enhancement through donations. I think this is
: EXTREMELY accurate and if players take advantage of it so be it. I give
: gold to beggars which I could use to buy items with and this also gives the
: beggar some money to buy a bottle of vino. If you started giving away
: hundreds of gold pieces in the middle ages you would very quickly become a
: popular and very highly regarded citizen.
There should be some sort of limit to it though. Otherwise you encourage
the murdering types all the more. You certainly should have some recourse
if you wish to improve your notoriety, but it should require a significant
in time and/or material goods.
--
Doug Bora
stig...@wwa.com