March 1, 2011 UO Video House of Commons Transcript Part 2

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

Other parts of the transcripts:
* Part 1 of the Transcript
* Part 3 of the Transcript
* Part 4 of the Transcript

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: Alright, this one is probably, it’s specifically for Derek, uhh a question about the update of hardware.
Supreem: Uhh..what’s the question.
Off Camera: Status
Supreem: *laughs* Well actually all of our live shards are on the new hardware. It was a lot of work, but in the long run, it’s really gonna pay off for the game….it was a long time coming..um..I’m glad that we got through it…for the most part, everything seems stable. We’re doing well. There are some more stuff that needs to be done behind the scenes, but I don’t think we’re going to be seeing any major downtimes like we were with the Japan migration and some of the other things we were doing, so in theory the worst of it is over.
Mesanna: I actually have a question for you from a player.
Supreem: Okay
Cal: Uh-oh
Mesanna: Will..why are you able to ping the old shards…you can actually ping them.
Cal: How is that poss
Supreem: You can still ping the new ones, you just need to get the right address.
Mesanna: Yeah, you can ping the old ones too.
Supreem: Yeah
Cal: Don’t know.
Supreem: They’re still there. They’re not completely shut down yet.
Mesanna: Okay..they will be shut down though..Right
Supreem: Right
Mesanna: There you go.
Cal: Umm..I think the other thing we got, just anecdotally is I heard on is it Europa..that events are actually going better on the newer shards right, so there’s not as much lag. Players aren’t experiencing as much lag on the newer hardware..at least I heard that from Europa…and I don’t know how the other
Supreem: We’ve had some reports that it feels a little bit slower moving from one subserver to another..umm..we’re investigating that and looking into the root causes. We made a couple of changes that umm..we think alleviated a lot of that problem….and..so I haven’t seen too much complaints but if players notice any issues with performance on the new hardware, let us know

Off Camera: Alright, every good, let’s move on questions from our friends at Stratics and the UStream chat channel
Mesanna: yeaahh
Cal: Uh oh. Go ahead
Off Camera: You want me to tell you
Cal: Go ahead, bring it man, bring it, I don’t…bring it.
Off Camera: Our first question is can we get an explanation of mailboxes please.
Mesanna: Oh…umm..it’s just something that he’s calling the mailbox to be able to tell you if you won the plot or not (UOJournal note: Magincia plot). It’s not really a mailbox.
Supreem: We may use it for a further..for future stuff too..
Mesanna: Yeah. It’s a way of umm..for us to message you guys without just giving you a piece of paper in your backpack
Cal: And how long do players get before they have to claim..is it two weeks or three weeks (?) for you to claim your plot.
Mesanna: Umm
Supreem: The deed is good for about a month right now.
Cal: Okay
Supreem: It might be tweaked during testing, but right now it’s a month.
Mesanna: Right now, you get a message that you won this, you either place it or sell it within a month or you lose it. It goes back to anybody can place there. So there is a limitation on it.
Supreem: Yeah, if you win a house plot you get a deed which is transferrable, you can sell it somebody if you want or you can place it yourself. That deed is good, right now it’s 30 days but that may change.

Off Camera: Alright, next question, can we buy bricks with our crystallized essence
*Stunned Silence*
* Laughter*
Mesanna: No
Cal: It’s just, that’s kind of a stump the dummy kind of question.
*Lots of laughter*
Off Camera: *unintelligible*
Cal: Next

Off Camera: Next, let’s see, where will the new player area be located.
Cal: We have some ideas, we just can’t be certain. More than likely, we will, I’ll just use the term riff, kind of improvise on an area that exists right now, but it will not look exactly like that old area …so we have a couple of ideas where it could be..umm..but I can’t say specifically.
Supreem: Undecided
Cal: *whispers something to Mesanna*
*Nodding of heads, looks exchanged*
Mesanna: It’s not going to be in
Cal: Right, but it’s
Mesanna: We’re going to return Haven to Ocllo
*Laughter, unintelligible speech*
Cal: Alright, so
Mesanna: You dump everything (?)
*unintelligible*
Cal: Anyways, sorry, anyways, so we can’t say specifically where it’s going to be, but we have some ideas. And as you can see, we are honestly thinking about all this stuff already. Yeah
Mesanna: yeah
Supreem: The new player experience is still under the very early stages of planning and that’s why there’s a lot of (?) we don’t totally have the answers yet.

Off Camera: Another question, will there be new housing customization sets
All three: Yes
*Laughter*
Mesanna: No
Supreem: Not with Publish 70
Cal: Right, correct
Supreem: But they are coming
Mesanna: Yes
Cal: Right, correct

Off Camera: Umm..is there going to be a fix on the gold situation in the game
Cal: Ahhhhh..that’s a really open-ended question..the answer is ummm…yes, we are working on a system that is currently in development that will address that specifically
Supreem: Wow
Mesanna: We are continously looking at the (?) that will address the massive amounts of gold in our game.
Cal: Right
Mesanna: How about that
Cal: (?)
Cal: We have, we are looking at it, we’ve got some stuff we are working on, so that’s all you need to know. Or we could just, or (?) whoever is asking that question, we’ll just take yours and that will be less gold in the game.

Off Camera: Very good. Someone from the Ustream channel has asked politely if you will fix pirate ships, they dont take damage again (?)
Mesanna: That’s true
Cal: Yeah. Yeah
Supreem: It’s in our bug-tracking system
Cal: Yeah, So got it, understood.

Off Camera: Uhh one more pleasant, is there any comment you can make on the state and future of development on Siege Perilous
*Silence, weird look from Cal, Supreem smiles, some laughter*
Cal: Umm
Supreem: We love our Siege players
Cal: Right, so this is what I have to say for every Siege player that PMs me. For the number of people that are actually on Siege, they are extremely vocal. Siege by design is an island unto itself. Umm..I’m learning more about the design decisions of Siege every month..umm..to answer the question. Siege is constantly on our mind and my mind specifically, because players will not let it not be on my mind..umm..and I can’t say anything currently for that. Siege is very difficult to design for because of what it actually is.
*silence*
Cal: That’s all I have to say about that.
Off Camera: Very good

Off Camera: More questions, a mention of high resolution artwork was made on the short video, is there any update on that or plans that one can be made aware of.
Cal: Umm..I can say one thing..umm…and that it’s not going to be just one blast of an art update…Umm..we’ll be doing it in pieces. 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.

Off Camera: Here’s a short and sweet one. Can the graphics for hatchet be changed.
Cal: I saw that.
Off Camera ?() Same one as battle axes.
Cal: (firmly) No
*laughter among all three*
Mesanna: What
Cal: *looking at Supreem* what’s your answer on that one*
Supreem: Ummm..I don’t thinkwe have any plans to do that.
Cal: Yeah, no, not right now. Next.

Off Camera: What about long-standing bugs in the EC, do we have an update on some of those. For example “you cannot pick that up” *unintelligible* items during combat, character tends to jump a tile randomly and occasionally…this is..kind of peters off after that.
Cal: Right
Mesanna: *laughter*
Supreem: So um…the enhanced client (EC) is obviously something we care about very much …uhh..we want to fix the bugs ..what happens is we just don’t have the time to focus on it all the time. What we do is we find time in our schedule where we can basically do what is called a sprint which is a focused period of time where we hit bugs on the enhanced client..so we had one a while back..and uh..we hope to get another sprint of bug fixes for the enhanced client back on the schedule…umm..it’s just a matter of working out the schedule and getitng it in there. We want to work on it, it’s just a matter of time.
Mesanna: And for each publish, whether we are trying to design something new or whatever, we still try to put in a certain amount of bugs no matter what (UOJournal note: She probably meant bug fixes)
Cal: Right

Off Camera: Vamp, I’m getting the next question in right now
Cal: You’re what. Vamp.
Off Camera: vamp
Cal: What does vamp mean.
Off Camera: It means keep talk while we
Cal: Oh umm..so the thing I actually wanted to bring up ummm was the amount of work we’ve actually done in the last six months I think is..it becomes unapparent sometimes because we get so far in the weeds that we don’t think about the high-level stuff that the team has done..so just as a quick review. From October of last year until right now ..we published High Seas..umm we updated essently..the High Seas update was about boat movement, the ships and combat and it was massive. It actually took a lot of work to get that done. The next piece was that we did Thanksgiving and the turkey and we did events. In addition to that we also had a massive Pub 69..was actually a huge publish for us, with a lot of updates, a lot of fixes to the EC and a lot of just major bugs that were going on. Now in addition to that, we’re also running the live event for getting you guys on your way towards the restoration of Magincia. In January we’ve actually been..for January we’re working on all the performance stuff and moving over to live shards. In February, we are focused fully on making sure that Magincia actually gets restored in March. So. Umm…when you put things that way, we’ve been busy the entire time, so the thing I want the UO community to understand is getting to publish 70 and restoring Magincia was a lot of work.
Supreem: It’s been a long road.
Cal: Yeah, so umm..the other piece of that is the restoration of Magincia is a piece of ending of a longer story..so that’s another piece of doing the smaller arcs this year is with the restoration of Magincia, there is no need for us to do long..like long-term events anymore. It releases us from having to obligate ourselves to any old arcs or lore that umm..that we need to readdress. So how’s that.
Off Camera: Very good. That was some good vamping.
Cal: Thank you
Off Camera: Congratulations

Off Camera: Will there be any official events in or will the story arc include Ter Mur. Not the exact wording, more of an abstraction.
Cal: yeah
Off Camera: Ter Mur
Cal: Ummm..we do need to do some more stuff over there…we..go ahead
Mesanna: We need to include a lot of the facets other than Felucca and Trammel. So it would be nice for us to do that in the future
Cal: Correct (?)
Off Camera: Along that theme, another question about whether we will ever get some more history about Ter Mur
Supreem: Maybe in one of our shorter, upcoming arcs
Cal: yeah, how about I say umm…there is no plan for it right now that makes sense so.
Mesanna: Well we can tell them we have a new event…I mean a new quest and some more mobs in it.
Cal: Right
Mesanna: In the Abyss
Cal: That’s true. That went out with 69
Mesanna: No that’s coming out again in 70
Cal: Okay

Off Camera: A question about will there be any new deco items on the UO store (UOJournal note: UOGameCodes)
Cal: I’m thinking..ummm..I don’t think there are are any….ohhhh..yeah, yeah, yeah..Eventually yes
Mesanna: *laughs* shields her mouth with her hand and whispers to Cal
Cal: Yeah, yeah right. So. Eventually yes.

Off Camera: A tenderly worded question about uhh..
Cal: Tenderly
Off Camera: When is something going to be done about griefing at events.
*laughter*
Mesanna: Whenever we start banning players
Cal: Right. And then as soon as we can change human behavior.
Mesanna: And uhh..ummm..I have informed my EMs to message me as soon as a player starts messing up and they are going to be removed from the event. So I would appreciate players to show them the same respect as they would any of us. Because I really don’t want to have to get them banned.
Off Camera: Very good.

Off Camera: Umm..any changes planned for old dungeons to revitalize them..
Cal: Hmmm..uh huh.. Yes there are plans.
Off Camera: want to go into any
Cal: Nope. Nope.
Off Camera: Any details about spring cleaning
Cal: Actually hold on
*unintelligible*
Cal: ummm..
Mesanna: Do you guys have bugs in our offices
Cal: Yeah, so *mutters*
Mesanna: Just a yes
Cal: Yes
Supreem(?): It’s like
Cal: So here’s something for the community
Off Camera (?) specific if you want to hear the whole thing
Cal: Yeah, go ahead, what’s up.
Off Camera: Any details on spring cleaning, when, what can we turn in, point values, etc.
Cal: Okay so the details on point values and what, no. Umm…for the when, it will be after pub 70 but before the summer, because then it wouldn’t be spring cleaning.
*laughter*
Mesanna: Umm..we’re always open to ideas for items.
Cal: Right Oh and.
Mesanna: If you guys want to send them to us
Cal: Right, and so in addendum to that is a lot of folks are asking about the blue crystals..umm and it’s been a constant thing when are we going to turn that off, turn that in..I got a private message “hey, why don’t we do that for spring cleaning” it’s like well those are I think we can come up with something a bit more creative than turning them in for spring cleaning so just stay tuned on that.

Off Camera: Cool. Umm, someone named Neutron Bomb
Cal: Okay
Off Camera: Kudos to calling yourself Neutron Bomb by the way
*laughter*
Off Camera: Ahh..asking about getting a fix for party status bars in CC.
Supreem: hmm. I think it’s in the bugs, we just haven’t gotten to it.
Mesanna: (?) now, it’s in the system.
Supreem(?): Next

Off Camera: Estimate on the arrival of the next booster
*Silence and sighing*
Cal: Uhh…might as well just (said quietly)..hrm…let’s put it this way. When you see the new items, you’ll probably see the new booster at the same time. How about that. I don’t know, it’s just..fine
Mesanna: You don’t
Cal: Okay, fine…Umm..You will see an…You know what, I’m not going to take..I’m just going to say it wrong, and Bonnie keeps looking at me..so Uhh…I cannot give you an update on the date, but you will see some new items soon. How about that, is that alright (last bit said quietly)
Mesanna: Okay, it’s not going to be a full-blown booster though.
Cal: Right.
Supreem: Yeah.
Mesanna: Okay.
Cal: So.

Off Camera: Question about can we have the play sound functions of UO/code-script commands.
Cal: The what
Off Camera: Can we have the play sound function to the UO Code
Mesanna: For music
Cal: Oh…right, umm
Supreem: No
Cal: Just from like the chat command because we have a lot of (?)
Mesannna: Whenever we want (?) or do that for EMs
Cal: So the answer is no.
Supreem: The EMs can do it, sure.
Mesanna: Yes
Cal: Fail

Off Camera: Okay, what’s next..umm..can the Magincia house be transferred after placement
Mesanna: Yes
Supreem: It’ll be treated exactly like a regular house.
Mesanna: A regular house
Supreem: Once it’s placed

Off Camera: Okay, a question about how the training of GMs to UO-specific needs is going
Mesanna: GMs or EMs
Off Camera: GMs
Mesanna: That’s not our department, we cannot answer that
*laughter, but not happy laughter*
Cal: Right
Mesanna: We don’t, that’s not us

Off Camera: Let’s see, what’s next. Will vet players have acess to the new player areas to help new players along or will the new player have to leave that area first.
Cal: That’s a…hold on, let me write this down…Umm..I could see…okay so we had a question about griefers..and umm I could see immediately where that could be a grieving opportunity for noobs.
Mesanna: Yeah, and we will not reinstall?() the companion program.
Supreem: Join my guild
Cal: yeah…umm…I’m saying as a gut right now, I would say no, but maybe in testing it will change, but my gut right now is I understand there are a lot of really good veteran players that want to help newer..that’s how I and a couple of other guys on the team actually learned the game….um unfortunately if we make it available to everyone that means we’re going to get a lot of interesting personalities in that area umm..so I’ll just say right now, no I don’t think so, but we’ll see what happens.

UOJournal Note: This is a good place to stop on Part 2 of the transcript.

* Part 3 of the Transcript

Note: This article originally appeared on UOJournal.com