Greetings Avatars!
Drop your fishing pole, put up your lute, and please join us Thursday, October 8th at 3:00 PM Central (20:00 GMT) for our next Hangout of the Avatar! Richard, Starr, and Chris will be chatting about the highlights of Release 22 and giving everyone a sneak peek at what to expect for Release 23. And, of course, FireLotus will be taking your questions and feedback live in the chat-room and also in advance right here in the comments section.*
We will be giving out some really awesome prizes during the 90 minute extended Hangout, and all you have to do to qualify for one is to come hang out with us in the IRC chatroom during the broadcast. As always, the link to the hangout will be posted here directly before the hangout begins.
*Please keep in mind that questions and feedback related to Release 22 specific topics will be given priority and really verbose questions may be skipped, as they can be a challenge to shorten and summarize live on the air. In brief… please keep your questions… brief. 
Question? Is there any chance we can get our reward crafting stations this wipe Please?
Question: As we look forward to placing servants/pets in our homes in R23, what level of interactivity can we look forward to, such as naming them, conversation, commands, equipping them, etc?
*Agreed – I’d like to start using my hunting dog for recruiting 5+ people. (Rottweiler)
I want to be able to name my pets
^ I second this
I want to tame a timber wolf and name him Justin.
+1 Pet naming please. For combat and non-combat pets alike.
^ditto to the 5th power (5 replies so far in affirmation, right?)
QUESTION: What plans are in place to enhance the current in game chat?
Suggestions: Add avatar name autocomplete, more filters to highlight player specified key words, option to change the color of the font of an avatar speaking at a podium/on a soap box.
QUESTION: What is the current thinking on “global chat channels” and secondary guild chat chat channels?
Question? When will Player Owned Town folks be able to work with developers to somewhat dictate their town layouts? Are we going to be restricted to 1 or 2 templates for all 200+ POT’s per biome? Not expecting this in R23, more want to see if this is still on dev’s radar for future.
Question? Will we be so lucky as to see snooping / pick pocketing in SotA?
While I don’t expect this to be free-for-all everywhere, maybe we can introduce this in PvP zones/ towns, etc?
Maybe limit thieving to a particular guild that flags that user as open PvP from anyone and everyone so their forced to stealth around in the shadows risking everything all the time just to steal an item?
LOTS OF FUN to be had here guys! Don’t miss out
/big fan of this ….
I would also like hear more about this.
As long as it affects only you pvp’ers
I’m still a fan of adding a hardcore flag system for all of the above type play..
Snooping on NPCs could be useful.
If limited to PvP areas, then I’d agree—PvP need not only be limited to combat.
Question: How does one gain / loose experience points?
Question: Is auto attack working as designed or are changes coming?
Question: What fishing changes are coming? I would like to see the line draping to a bobber in the water and then real the fish in, when caught.
Check out the Combat vlog Chris Spears released yesterday, most of these are covered in it.
Question: Will players PVP POTs be accessible in Single Player Online? This seems like an easy way to exploit any town defenses created by the POT owner.
Question 1: I love that attention has been paid to the avatar and its creation, at least with the male facial hair. Will this work continue for R23 / R24? Also, will it be improved so that it will better fit the contour of the face as it grows out shrinks?
Question 2: What are the plans for improving the “gypsy” womans, starter scene? This seems like a great idea but it also seems incomplete.
In relation to question 2, I would like to compliment the progress so far on the starter scene(great job!) but point out that some feel the question system is too generic due to only having 3 paths. So..
1. Are the 8 virtues we know from the Ultima series unable to be used in game for copyright reasons?
2. If not, is there a possibility of choosing starter skills based on those virtues instead, then preferred weapon and Oracle path simply picked out by the player?
As far as I remember there will be only 3 paths for EP1, the other will come in later episodes.
Question: When can we summon Zombies and Ghosts using death magic? And when can we create pets using death magic (not taming)?
Will we be able to see our Duke Pledge reward of “custom avatar” anytime soon. Or can you give me a timeline on it?
Follow-up question: When do we get custom avatar heads?
Yes another question in relation to the original question. Do we have to use our own heads?
Question: With towns, dungeons, etc all be “instance” based for the lack of a better word, what will be the limitation of players that can occupy one “instance” of let’s just say Owl’s Head?
Would it ever be possible for 300, 500 or even 1,000 people to be in one single instance at a single time?
I would also like to know if there will be a hierarchy that determines who gets put into what instance if there are multiple instances? Guild, Friends, etc…
1. When will we be able to name pets?
2. I love my Siamese Cat, but the road is no place for her. Thoughts on non-combat pets able to be placed in your home to roam around? (Up to a limited number)
3. Any plans for placeable wall fireplaces with mantles that objects can be placed on? Maybe a few different craftable sizes to accommodate smaller or larger square footage?
4. When will we see the first belts and necklaces/gorgets in game and will they be visible on the character?
5. When can we hope to see more improvement in physical character creation such as quality and or variety of options?
Could you talk a little more about the Lua interpreter that you were eyeing to apply in SotA and the general usage? (I would simply love to hear some examples and thoughts on the subject!)
Q: Are SP/FO/MP game systems already well defined and just hidden at the moment?
Issues like respawning (needed in MP, not needed in SP), replayability, uniqueness of NPCs (a slain Min Liang Tin should stay slain in SP, but must not in MP), progression in game (grindy in MP, story-driven in SP), etc. are already brain stormed, decided and designed, and for development process just not available to players? Or we’re still at the drawing board phase on this aspect? TIA.
Question!
In his video interview with Greg “Dupre” Dykes, Richard Garriott hinted at the possibility of interviewing the other “real life” Ultima companions. Is this still a possibility? And if so, can you give us a hint to who may be next? Thanks!
Q: the adventurer level is now hidden. Is this value still tied to something? I.e. hitting chance, amount of damage dealt and received, base HPs and focus, etc.? If the answer is yes, it’s being kept hidden? Is being removed from such calculations? TIA.
Yes, please tell us if adventure levels will still be calculated into anything going forward or will it be phased out? It seems now the adventure levels are still being used to determine damage and what not. Just curious how this will work after the wipe
Lore question for Lord British/Tracy/Lum: What happened to the gargoyles from Old Britannia? We’ve seen no hint of our old friends in New Britannia!
Follow-up question: When will uncle Tracy come play with us? We need him to read us stories!
Q: Are extended access rights for housing still considered for EP1? I would like to see different access rights for exterior, interior and basement or even better per floor / rooms. What about rental contracts for individual house areas?
Question regarding XP and leveling: currently I have no real clue on my progress. Adventering XP is lowered during combat (most likely improving some stats in very small steps), after a kill I get some XP (but do not know how much). I do not see which skills got improved and by how much (only a very small bar below the skill, a numerical value would allow to estimate how many kills I need to advance).
Question regarding archers: currently I need an insane number of arrows. Wanted to train ranged combat starting from 0 and needed something like 3000 arrows on a single day. Thats a pretty high cost + weight for a low level character (fortunaltely there had been no wipe, so I had not been low level this time). Cant you increase the damage, but decrease the frequency of shots to keep DPS the same?
Question: Will it be possible to play instruments with midi keyboard hooked up through usb?
Question: When can we expect to be able to dye the trim on crafted items? For example, I can craft and dye blue armor but the trim is a light blue that looks horrible, when can I change that to something more dark?
1) Has any progress been made in the game that may make certain stretch goals less time-consuming/cost-intensive to implement that may see a lowered goal to meet? ie. expanded pet/taming functionality getting us part way to pack animals or dynamic towns tying into flexible placement?
2) Will we see stretch goals increase in price to “encourage” getting them now rather than later, or perhaps phasing out old stretch goals and bringing in new stretch goal offerings?
3) How long is the stretch goal campaign? Does it go away at launch for E1 or will we see the stretch items/goals offered still in the stretch store?
Question It’s October just intime for Halloween party’s and costume’s.My ? is will we see a new spooky monster?
Question: Will I be able to get a beer belly by Christmas? (Character customization). Oh and Unicorns?
Will we be able to craft flaming coconut bras?
(asking for a friend)
Yeah, sure.
Question: How do we repair max durability on the ring that we fish up? Are these going to be craftable? What new instruments are planned for the next ones to be released?
Can I have my name back? I would like to see a recipe for Kacey’s Cupcakes in game.
Question: I love the “spooky” themed items so far. Can we get an option of/for the spiders to be placed OFF of a wall? I would like to create an entire “ancient” graveyard, but the stackable blocks and tombstones we have look pristine, can we get decayed versions? Placeable spider webs?
I have been disappointed with the in game housing options, I understand that special houses are going to be pledge rewards and add-on store purchases, but are there any plans to expand the in game housing options. I am particularly interested in a two story row house shop with the fire place and back room removed so there would be more first floor space to create a shop. Also the village and town housing options are very limited, I would love to see a town lot guild hall that would be available only in game for a lot of gold, something that would take a lot of time and effort for a guild to acquire through in game action instead of just opening their real life wallet.
Also a bit disappointed that there are no 3 story stone and timber basements available in game and that kind of space expatiation is locked behind a pay wall. I understand locking the 4 story basements behind a pay wall and even the larger stone or the special arena basement, but I hope there are plans to make available 3 story stone and timber basements for all lots up to town or city lots.
Is skill decay a phenomena more likely to be encountered in online play than in offline play?
For reaching the other 80%, as mentioned in the R21 Hangout of the Avatar Postmortem, has there been consideration of possibly creating/permitting SotA-themed products to help spread awareness of SotA?
For example, how about coordinating with Steve Jackson Games to have a SotA-themed booster for their popular Munchkin CCG?
resource gathering takes too long, for instance I just killed off a mob and now im mining halfway through at lower levels that mob has just respawned and ruined my meticulous gathereing!! I hate that, can we speed up the process a little
Question about chat channels: Can we please have (at least) one of the following:
– PoT channels (for all residents of a PoT)
– Chat channels that can be created by players (ad hoc)
– Chat channels for alliances of guilds
Assuming that big PoTs are multi guild PoTs.
PoT channels, similar to worldwide guild channels, would be very helpfull.
Atm all our residents are in one guild
Many of them are very concerned how they communicate when the guild will divide in several specialized guilds.
Yeah wanna talk with my townmates even if I am in a different guild.
@Senash I’m also living in your town but not in the guild, can’t give up 4B for the town.
I agree to Albert – It’s very important to have more chat-channel-options (PoT-channel, create/join own channel, etc…)
The best solution would be to be able to create individual, permanent chat channels. Maybe even with password protection. Evereybody could create city channels, alliance chanels or whatever at will.
Request: More Humanoid Automatons. Alternate ones, either buildable in-game or purchasable. I really want an automaton. Also, Phoenix’s will they lay eggs, will Phoenix Eggs be in the game?
I am sorry I might be a little slow but can you explain to me why single player scene are something I should be excited about. I play with my friends and if I understand this correctly we cannot play in all of these areas together.
Part 2. Can you mark these areas on the map so I can easily identify areas we should avoid?
Request: Expansion of hair styles/facial hair options. Not too fond of the widow’s peak-like point the double braid hairstyle gives, & would like some other male long hairstyle options, please. Maybe even some other Outlander-ish hairstyles.
As for facial hair: Mutton chops? Sideburns? Stubble?
“Ask me about skills, use based math, chaos magic, balance, PVP”
So far off the top of my head:
1 – Will each skill tree be expanded upon, or is that all the skills that are intended for a long time to come?
2 – Do you guys know roughly how many more skill tree’s are planned, that arent in yet? Like Subterfuge.
3 – As you level a skill, is there anything behind the scenes that is increased, other than just the tooltip damage, duration or strength of cc? For example will a higher level in a skill help to hit the higher numbers between the minimum and maximum damage on the tooltip or increase crit chance?
4 – If plate is being rebalanced/nerfed for R23, will you guys be going over physical damage combat styles, especially 2H melee, if people now have incentive to wear anything else or stronger penalties for wearing plate? Since physical damage is currently too strong especially against the lighter armors.
5 – Has Adventurer level actually been removed from the game or is it another number that has been hidden for good reason? It seems our life and focus are still based off our old adventurer level and if it is just hidden…..
6 – Does adventurer level affect anything else, at all, no matter how minute. For example maybe slight modifier to the amount of damage you would do between the maximum and minimum on a skills tool tip, or on the chance to hit and chance to dodge.
7 – Guild Wars – can you summarise what you guys have planned for that so far. People talk of making a separate guild for guild wars for the few that want to specifically pvp, wouldnt that defeat the purpose of going to war with an entire guild? What is going to be the difference of fight a group of people in an off guild that you are at war with, and just having both groups tag pvp and fighting?
Not a question, just a compliment. Sometimes we the players get so hung-up on the “I wants”, especially around hangout time, that we forget about the “what we haves”. I have only been playing since R15, but the progress and positive differences between then and now have been impressive. So again, thank you devs for striving to make SoTA the unique experience it is continually evolving into. Though we may vocalize the “i wants” more frequently, I am constantly in a state of gratitude for the long hours you guys (and gals) put in. R22 has been the most rewarding release so far in my eyes. Cheers!
+1 on this, and then some! It cannot be said enough how much hard work and effort you put into this game, and the passion you all have for this world is so evident!
QUESTION: For R23 can you please explain how NPC’s will work for player owned towns. Can they be placed anywhere (independent of the NPC Buildings) or somehow linked together.
QUESTION: Player Owned Towns get to choose Add-on Buildings from the store. Is there any restrictions to these selections or will every building that has been in there store be on the final list (even expired ones)?
Would it be possible to get the new Halloween deco from the add-on store into the game BEFORE next release, so we can enjoy them for more than a few days before Halloween? (Most of us will be too busy to decorate after the wipe)
Question: Can we get statistics on how many people were able to complete/collect the release hats for all the releases?
Thanks!
Cool like to see this also
Question: Will we see something else than hats as reward for the tour quest? Like necklace or rings?
I’d like an explanation of how pooled points for crafting and adventure actually work. I had a huge pool of points in both from previous releases, but I only see the totals going down – never accruing new points as I gain experience in the various skill attributes
Take mining as an example
I have all 4 options accruing points. So every mining attempt decreases my pool by 4 points. But when I succeed, I still lose 4 points and never seem to gain any points for the success.
Similar experience with adventure skills.
Only there the drain is even more significant because of all the related items the increment with the use of a combat or magic skill.
Do we need to severely limit the number of skill attributes that are incrementing in order to make progress when we start with no experience pool?
Since I posted this I see that my crafting pool is now increasing now that my mining skill is at a 23 but I would still like some clarification on how the point allocation and utilization process is working
The adventure pool is still a mystery. Even killing high level creatures like on obsidian stag results in the loss of several hundred points. My ranged skills are at 97 and I have all 4 innates accruing along with 2 tactics (for dex) and all but 1 of the focus innates. I started with 1.2M+ xp points and I’m down to 215K so I’d really like to understand how to balance this for when I start with 0 xp.
This is NOT a decay issue
Pet taming seems extraordinarily expensive. The only way to build the skill to where reasonable combat companions are tamable, requires dozens of silver intensive collars. Perhaps you should consider using all of the ores so iron and copper could be used for lower level pets with silver and gold reserved for the more powerful creatures.
I agree!
Question 1: When will the Palisade for Keeps and castles be available?
Question 2: When will the Keep Arena Basement be available?
Question 3: I’ve seen a lot of deco for Halloween, will you be making costumes available? If the answer is yes, please make them wearable costumes and not an instant cast skin change for your character into a troll or imp etc.
Thank you!
– Grave GodsHammer
Question: There is very little visceral quality to melee as of yet and the only way I know I’ve hit an opponent is by watching its HP go down. Combat interactions are also somewhat awkward and stiff, especially since auto-targeting isn’t functioning properly. Is there a focus on creating a stronger sense of physical connectivity between weapon and enemy and to finesse combat positioning, or is this aspect of the game “working as intended” with only minor tweaks planned?
(Magic casting, on the other hand, seems to be coming along nicely–there is a much stronger sense that spells “land.”)
Question: Are there plans to implement an animation for when our avatars climb up and down ladders?
Question #2: Are there plan to implement sound effects for water such as when the avatar swims or walks through water and also for the water falls? (Only water sound I am aware of is from the fountains). Thank you.
Can we please get a log cabin with a fireplace or wood stove?
Can healing spells in higher tiers heal more than they do at the moment?
Can banish undead become an AOE like turn undead in D&D
Can we have a switch that will take a skill and drop it to 0, and drop those points into the experience pool for other skills.
Can we have another bar for melee attacks, so i dont have to raise focus, for it (focus to me is mana) If my spells take from that, then my melee should come from another bar (powerbar etc..) that way i dont have to cast spells to raise my ability to use melee weapons!
QUESTION: Can Dynamic Player Owned Towns be given a selection as to which Exit arch becomes the default ENTRANCE location? For example (FOREST01), a Boat on the Docks, or the Arch by the Covered Bridge or Along the water by the Mountains?
3 Questions:
1. In regards to 2nd character slot, what will the level of interaction be between characters in single player mode? (Like can we transfer materials / gold between characters?)
2. Will we be able to bypass storyline quests with the second character? Conversely, will we be able to complete the quests?
3. When will the 2nd character slot go active in alpha for testing purposes?
Thanks, love what you’re doing so far!
What opportunities do we have to get involved with narrative design?
Will we be able to play undead as characters like vampires?
Question: Since work orders were mentioned some time ago and not discussed again I have wanted them so my question is:
will you please give us bulletin boards in a town square for work orders to hire other players to get resources for us, perhaps hire them for protection, hire a decorator for your house, and of course you could post help questions and wanted posters here also and etc?
Will robes become available to wear over our armour for the world’s friendly neighbourhood mages?