What's new

Patch Patch - 3/16/2023 - Grail Rework, Dress Form Transmogrifier, Summoner, Server Redundancy and MORE!

Status
Not open for further replies.

tr1age

Administrator
Staff member
The Holy Grail Rework:
While we understand that some people may not be pleased with these changes, we believe that the current items are simply too powerful for the amount of effort required to obtain them... we know, deep down, or even surface level that no one would disagree.

7edn65.jpg

The Holy Grail quest's do not adequately reflect the significant rewards on offer. Nor do they reflect our goal to maintain balance and risk/reward for items in the game. This year is about balance, fixing mistakes, and making effort/reward true. This means... change. The simple fact that the Skull of Power quest which is 10 times the difficulty was not feeling as fulfilling due to this item creep, we introduced, is enough reason to change. Yes we take responsibility and are going to continue to balance the game when need be, even if it means removing things, which while hard, should be something we encourage as it helps keep the game balanced for the future generations of new players!

Originally, the Holy Grail quest was meant to give melee characters a boost and level the playing field, but the tabard has become more of a dream piece for mages and mystics. To rectify this, we plan on adjusting the weapons and creating two iterations of the tabard - one for melee and one for mages. The melee version will maintain power as melee builds need it, but that will come with a caveat of who can wear it, which while we do not want to limit players, we do believe sometimes in order to elevate forgotten about skills, that is the options we are given in UO midgame. The Magery version will be considered a mid tier item now and something for players to acquire quicker to get them going, but replace-able later on. And we will be adding a non restricted version to the Skull of Power quest as it is a much harder risk/reward.


We understand that not everyone will be happy with these changes, but we believe that they are necessary to bring the Holy Grail quest back in line with our vision for UOAlive and its Crusader Update, which aimed to empower Melee and Chiv builds, not make a make it or break it, must have, farm over and over, item.

- All Weapons from this quest will break. Current versions will be adjusted, so eventually you will need to do it again if you want another.
- All Weapons from the Holy grail will have their forced damage min and max normalized to stop from being god like as well as a few tweaks to be more in line with mid tier items.
- Hit lightning has been re-added to all weapons but at a reduced cost of 10%
- Added Loot Type Monikers Like Major Magic Item and Legendary etc.
- Spell channeling has been removed from all weapons sans Merlin's Staff
- Merlin's Staff actually got a buff of Mage Weapon.
- The Holy Grail KNIGHTS Tabard will be added with the following:
  • RegenStam 1
  • BonusStam 5
  • LowerManaCost 2
  • WeaponSpeed 5%
  • Luck 50
  • Brittle
  • Prized
- The Tabard from this quest will be limited. That means the following skills will stop you from wearing the Knights Tabard: Necromancy, SpiritSpeak, AnimalTaming.(this has to be in place otherwise it unbalances Sampires and Archer/Tamers) It is a Holy Tabard after all.
- The Original Tabard will be the following stats and will be renamed to "Holy Grail Mystical Tabard"
  • CastSpeed 1
  • CastRecovery 2
  • Luck 50
  • BonusInt 10
  • Brittle
  • Prized
- You will need to purchase each of these items separately from the stone. We don't want to force people to do this that many times. It is silly.
- The Mystic Tabard will cost 1 Token per
- The Melee Tabard will cost 1 Token per
- The Weapons will cost 1 Token per
- The other rewards will be given to you upon completion of the quest (such as the tiny chest and fake grail)
- Current Weapons existing in the world from the Holy Grail Quest will be adjusted.
- Current Tabards from the Holy Quest in the World will be adjusted.
- Grail report quest item wording adjusted vs Quest item rewards: Easier to tell what is a reward and what is a quest item!

Skull of Power Adjustment(skip to avoid loot spoilers):
The current drop from the new Quest SoP will be slightly adjusted to not become another "Holy Grail Tabard" moment to the following:
  • SpellDamage 8%
  • FasterCasting 1
  • ResistingSpells +10
  • Cursed
An additional item EPAULETTES for the drop. Stats:
  • RegenStam 2
  • BonusStam 8
  • LowerManaCost 3
  • WeaponSpeed 10%
  • Cursed
- Both will have a new graphic
- A magical ticket will drop to be redeemed for the items above in Magincia.
- Multiple bugs resolved at the Hermit's area
- Current SoP Sashes in the world will be replaced.

General:
  • Here is the Transmogrification Dress Form. Gone are the messy and combustible potions! This item will be found at the Magincia Magical Stone Exchange. Bring your Armor, Shields, and Clothing here to Tramog them into the outfit of your dreams!
    1678841167995.png
  • New robes for the Transmog Stone:
    1678839095822.png
  • 2 New Shields to Transmog Stone:
    1678855525682.png
  • Added New Demon Belt and Round Lantern
    1678853563595.png
  • Added New Magical Wand Light
    1678982772167.png
  • Added Framework items to allow for Neck Pieces to be Transmogged into Jewelry without causing exploits.
  • Added a new Animated Cartography Table
    1678982868614.png

    It will act like an alternative to Davie's Locker
    1678998594404.png
  • Added a new Daily Rare: The White Wyrm Heart
  • New Rare Pet Dyes added to the Dye Stone in Magincia

Adjustments:
  • [wallet has commas for gold!
  • 1678747833913.png
  • Holy Grail Quests and Skull of Power now have new Token Graphics for turn in at Magincia:
    1678840322970.png
  • Adjusted how timers work and lock to boost performance
  • Removed the limitation from the Pet Dye tub(renamed from mount) to not be able to dye all creatures. You can now destroy all beauty in Charlie through the dye tub. Enjoy you savages.
  • Gold will now be in Check Form in treasure map chests to prevent an exploit.
  • The Summoner has been tweaked a bit that Necromancy will have a negative effect on non undead summons. As we said, this is a work in progress and being in wraith form with unlimited mana on a Summoner is a bit much. So do not expect to get such a powerful Rising Colossus with Necro.
    • We removed the Skeletal Dragon from the Creature summons to keep with this theme and not overlap.
    • Summon Creature duration now effected by skill in Magery, Mysticism, Spellweaving together.
Bug Fixes:
  • Mysticism stats added to runic reforging
  • Removed skill check from vet reward system
  • Fixed issue with Pets that were able to be stabled with items in their pack.
  • Fixed a bug with wall banners
  • Hiding now accounts for 120 skill.
  • Summoned Undead could be Paragons.
Server:
  • We have added new layers of recovery and save protocols to protect YOUR data in case of Catastrophe. As we grow we want to continue to keep your characters and hard work protected and well. With these new protocols our redundancy checks and recovery abilities are even better than ever! This has been a team effort to everyone involved on the UOAlive Team.
  • Added way more archives and backups to the backend in case of catastrophes
  • Additional backend optimizations to make the server run more efficiently.
Going forward:

The rewards for completing a quest should be balanced with the level of effort required to complete it, and this is something that UOAlive strives for. As with all live services and online games, changes will be made to address these issues and ensure a better experience for players. TomJ's quest has just reset the goal posts and is the standard of what a quest should feel like. (if we add a quest mind you, remember this is a sandbox game and quests are special events)

We will take precautions to ensure that the rewards are commensurate with the effort required to complete any quest we add. The current reward system for the Holy Grail quest was designed during a time with less oversight, and some rewards such as the tabard are a monstrosity in terms of reward versus effort.


Going forward, UOAlive aims to strike a better balance between effort and reward for all quests, ensuring that the journey towards completion is as fulfilling as the rewards earned while not usurping the other excellent items and gear in the game and the ways to acquire it! TomJ's Skull of Power quest is a pristine example of this. And we are proud to have come this far, even if we stumble a bit on the way!
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.