March 1, 2011 UO Video House of Commons Transcript Part 3

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

Other parts of the transcripts:
* Part 1 of the Transcript
* Part 2 of the Transcript
* Part 4 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: Okay, here’s one *unintelligible* you guys probably won’t..knowing the conditions on the ground in Felucca on both shards, will the rebuilding of Magincia take into account both facets, that is if evil decides not to rebuild in Felucca but they do in Tram, will the result be different or will it be shared.
Cal: The two different
Mesanna: It’s..no, it’s gonna be the same..houses are going to be, the plots are going to be the same on Felucca and Trammel..we’re not, that’s not a decision(?)
Supreem: There is no decision on whether or not to rebuild it. It will be rebuilt.
Cal: Right, it will be there.
Mesanna: But no
Cal: How it looks and how it ends up is actually up to the players
Mesanna: You’re only going to see one thing that has been revamped of the old city.
*silence*

Off Camera: Okay..umm..a question about a comment on (?) spawning at the unreachable locations
Mesanna: Right..do you want me to answer that
Cal: Yeah
Mesanna: Umm..I know that our Japan parts our counterparts have put no-spawn (?) tiles there, but we have it written up, we’re aware, we just haven’t had time to fix it.

Off Camera: Umm…Another housing question on Magincia..what about the few houses on Magincia, will anything happen to them
All: Yes
Cal: So there was a Herald post
Mesanna: Hold on
Cal: Okay sorry
Mesanna: The ones on the beach are not going to be touched. The ones that are on the island itself in the grassy areas have already been moved to the beach so if you’re missing your house, go look on the beach
All: *laughter*
Supreem: You just got waterfront
Mesanna: Yes, you’ve been upgraded and kudos to you

Off Camera: Uhh..Here’s an interesting questions..I want to know marketing plans, will people ever see UO in stores again.
Cal: Wow, umm..I know this is my answer, so we get, we’ve been asked this question as long as I’ve been a part of UO and the answer is “no” (sing-song voice) umm..the the intent right now for anything after the 21st century is digital media so..umm..putting products on shelves is for..I mean even brand new products it’s rare and difficult to actually so for something like UO, unlikely. But umm.. we are looking at other things we can offer players that are not just umm..pixel crack, so I’ll say that.

Off Camera: Very good, a question about would it be possible to get rid of bank checks and change them to just a (?)
Cal: I can’t answer that question right now
*Muttering between Cal and Mesanna*
Cal: Do you want to do that? Do you want to put that out there?
Mesanna: We have (?) actually talked about that
Cal: I know we talked about it
Supreem: We’ve talked about it
Mesanna: It’s something we’re discussing, yes
Cal: Okay so here’s
Off Camera: *unintelligible*
*laughter*
Cal: So So so alright so here’s what happens, alright so here’s what happens, this is what you call like internal spin control…we love this game and so everyday we are thinking about stuff to like make the game better and stuff that would be easier in terms of economy and that sort of thing, the other side of that is we have stuff we need to do, and then there’s stuff we want to do. so it’s always a balance and a struggle as to then, yeah I know you’re a producer but I can hit you from here with a spitball, so it’s important that we make sure that we balance the stuff we want to do and don’t tell you guys, the community, anything we don’t plan to finish
Supreem: It’s very hard to commit to things that are still in planning.
Cal: Right
Mesanna: Right

Off Camera: Umm..a very simple question, are factions still being looked at
Cal: We’re looking at `em..That’s all I’m gonna say.
*Shared looks between C/M*
Cal: Next
Supreem: We’ve basically taken a breath and uh..*unintelligible*
Mesanna: We’re still healing from the beating we took from the last time we looked at them
Cal: *laughs* ummm
Supreem: That’s a good way to put it
Cal: There’s a darkness around that system, there’s a darkness there.
Mesanna: Sorry
Cal: It’s true. Next

Off Camera: Here’s a long one. When will Ultima Online Stygian Abyss be complete in terms of unreleased land masses…the..uh..the quarter chunk of Ter Mur that is inaccessible as well as unused ingredients/possible quest items such as the vile tentacles, slith’s eyes (?), and lodestones
Cal: Working on it, like no kidding working on it so..Next.

Off Camera: Ummm…a question inquiring about the best way to report a bug and have it addressed.
Supreem: Well as far as I know, there’s two really good ways to do that, one of them is if you are using the enhanced client, you can do it right inside the client which is you go to the menu and there is a bug report window there, and that is basically sent to the same place as if you were to send a bug or an email to I believe it’s uobugs..um..the exact email address is on the Herald, you just have to look around for it. Could you Rowland.
Mesanna: UObugs.com
Supreem: I think its uobugs@ea.com
Mesanna: Either one will get you there (UOJournal note: referring to EC bug report or uobugs@ea.com) actually
Cal: And Rowland is looking right now
Supreem: But basically both of those go to the same place, if you report it inside the enhanced client or you send an email to that address, they both go to our QA department.

Off Camera: Alright, here’s a question that’s near and dear to my heart. Any plans to bring UO to mobile devices or the iPad
Cal: I know who asked that question, stop asking that question
Supreem: There are no plans
Cal: And stop asking that question
Supreem: I dream about it
Cal: Yea
Off Camera: So do I

Off Camera: Will more commodoties and items be added to pirate and merchant ships and will we see different difficulties of ships and crews
Mesanna: That’s actually a really good idea
Supreem: We’d love to
Cal: Next
Mesanna: Bump(?) up the ships and crews
Mesanna: Items..eventually
Cal: Next

Off Camera: Will Scallis item drop-rates be improved and will there be a way to convert a fabled fishing net so that you have an option to summon Scalis or Leviathan
Mesanna: No
Supreem: Hmm..no..not in the plan
Cal: no
Off Camera: Why not
Cal: Don’t want to
Mesanna: Why not?
Off Camera: *laughs* yeah why not
Mesanna: Because we have
Cal: Why are you instigatin CJ(?)
Off Camera: (?)You can just say no and not get
Cal: Sure we can
Mesanna: *unintelligible*
*laughter*
Cal: ’cause we have other stuff to do
Supreem: Priorities
Cal: Next

Off Camera: Umm..Can we get deco items as a reward for the fishing quests
*silence*
Cal: Hmmm
Cal: I’m trying to think in terms of game design if that makes sense. It’s kind of the question of why does a cow have money…umm
Mesanna: Well look at it this way, when you fish up stuff, it’s ships that have gone done
Cal: Right, but it’s not on a fish
Mesanna: Hold on, but you could fish up items
Cal: True, like a lobster trap I could see that, right.
Mesanna: Lobster trap, I can’t see that. It doesn’t go down deep. You want to get deep, you’ve gotta dig deep to get items…
Cal: Umm…we’ll look into it. As you can see obviusly, we’re going to have some talking about that.
*laughter*

Off Camera: Question about the Enhanced Client, can we have dark nights and colored lights, like in the classic.
*lot of silence*
Supreem: Maybe
*laughter*
Off Camera: There’s a second part to that. Can we have real cellars, quote unquote real cellars on (?) our houses
Cal: Ohh…Oh…dude…hmmm…
Mesanna: Have what?
Cal: Basements
Mesanna: Oh cellars
Cal: Yeah
Mesanna: Oh..
Cal: Umm
Supreem: Maybe one day
Mesanna: *unintelligible*
Cal: So…alright let’s, let’s hmm..I’ll tell you what ummm..hmmm..there is a deeper answer to that question than we can give right now. We will address it at a later video house of commons.
Mesanna: We’ve actually talked about it though
Cal: Yeah, we have
Mesanna: We just haven’t figured out how to do it right
Cal: Yeah, so yeah we’ve had some intense discussions about that

Off Camera: Alright, here’s an interesting one, could we end up with a Fel house when we wanted a Trammel house
Supreem: No
Mesanna: No
Supreem: You actually raffle for a specific plot
Cal: You will go there and give your money to the guy
Mesanna: Right
Cal: To say this is the plot that I want at this location, so it is voluntary where you put your stuff
Mesanna: You know exactly what you’re getting

Off Camera: It’s an email address..something unintelligible
Supreem: Sure, but what is it, I’ll just say it
Off Camera: It’s an email address that is on the site?(?)
Supreem: That’s what I thought it was.
Supreem: It’s what uobugs
Off Camera: It’s uobugs@uo.com
Supreem: uobugs@uo.com which you can find
Mesanna: (?) can hear him
Off Camera: *unintelligible*
Supreem: I’m just repeating it to make sure
*laughter*
Cal: And his accent is cooler than yours
Supreem: I know
Off Camera: It’s under support
Supreem: Under support
Mesanna: (?) translate it into English
*laughter*
Cal: No, he’s translating into American
*laughter*
Cal: Rowland speaks English, Derek speaks American

Off Camera: Question about any plans for new champ rewards, we need to lure more players to Felucca
Cal: Lure? I like the word lure….
(?): I want to lure people to Felucca (evil voice)
Off Camera: *unintelligible* that’s very RP, you should like that
Cal: Exactly..Yes
(?): Come to Felucca we have better Champ spawns?
Supreem: We’ll just make Felucca gates blue instead of red for you guys and you’ll have all the people you want
Mesanna: No we won’t
*laughter*
Cal: Nice, “FRESH MEAT” Nice, lawyers would love that. You’d just be standing there *pants*
Mesanna: We have not discussed that.

Off Camera: A question about a bug that causes you to be unable to pick up items when moving items around, is there any word on this being fixed.
Cal: (?)weren’t we just asked that question
Supreem: Well it’s similar, it’s in the same line. It’s in the bug system, we get a handful of bugs we get to fix each publish and as soon as we can get to it, we will.
Cal: Next

Off Camera: A question reaching back into the old days of Ultima, whether we will ever get physical maps again or other neat stuff
Cal: hmmm
Mesanna: We can’t answer that right now
Cal: yeah we can’t answer that right now
Off Camera: Sounds mysteriously promising though
Cal: Right, that’s exactly why we say things like that.
Off Camera: Right
Off Camera: Umm..
Cal: But he said he was going to do it (said rapidly)…no he didn’t, and we just said we can’t answer that question right now.

Off Camera: Let’s see, umm…*laughs* I’m sure this is a question you’ve never gotten. I’d be curious to know if there are any plans for a native Linux or Mac client. UO is exactly the kind of game that would attract users from the Linux community in particular.
Cal: yeah, so
Supreem: hmmm
Cal: Umm..I got a lot of grief for playing on a Mac, so I’m just, or trying to find a way to plan other than using Parallels, so if we could get Mac developers, yeah, but for right now, but no, I’m definitely with you on being able to play Ultima Online natively on a Mac I’d really like that, but for right now, no.
Supreem: If you want to port our client to Linux, give us a call
*laughter*
*unintelligible*
Cal: Exactly, bring it. Bring it.

Off Camera: Umm..a short and sweet one. Will the Mag(incia) houses be grandfathered…for example
Mesanna: No
Off Camera: to own (?) plus another (UOJournal note: probably referring to two houses on one account)
Mesanna: No
Off Camera: And that was a short and sweet answer
Mesanna: Yes
Cal: Yes. You get none.

Off Camera: Has there been any thought to offering UO as a free to play game. Here’s a loaded question.
Cal: Has there been any thought given to it?
Off Camera: Sure
Cal: Sure, I give thought to tying my shoes in the middle of the night too, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to happen.
Off Camera: Well, there’s a second part to that question. If so, what if anything has been decided.
Mesanna: *giggles*
Off Camera: Ha!
Cal: Yeah, okay..umm…how do I word this.
Off Camera: Carefully
Cal: Yes
Mesanna: No (?) decision has been made
Cal: Umm…the plans that we make right now for the game are to keep the game viable, and to keep the game entertaining, and to keep players coming, and so whatever decisions we make for that, that is our priority.
Mesanna: Nice
Off Camera: Very good.
Cal: Thanks

UOJournal Note: This is a good stopping point for Part 3

* Part 4 of the Transcript