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Patch Patch Notes 6/21/22 and Public Statement

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tr1age

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Public Statement:
UOAlive has and always will be a more "casual" version of Ultima Online. We are a PvE server, safe space, welcoming environment for players of all levels. While durability damage and the need to upkeep weapons and armor is important so it isn't just "easy mode" we never want a player to feel as if they cannot do content due to the content having a very old school mentality of "punishing mechanics". These mechanics were already present in things like Bedlam and Verite Elementals. No longer. We have removed them. Not only that but we have removed all mechanics like this beyond "normal durability loss" throughout the entirety of UOAlive. This is NOT how UOAlive is meant to be, this mechanic is demoralizing and punishing for the sake of itself.

Now, that being said, a custom creature slipped through the cracks recently. The Colossus. These creatures were meant to be tactical, fun, and interesting. Challenging people to group with different dynamics and builds in order to defeat them and find their weaknesses. Something to bring players together and try different builds. Sadly, what was intended and what made it to live, never actually aligned. Not only that the "punishing mechanic" of equipment damage with potential to destroy items (which we KNOW in this era can take months to acquire) made it through. Even if say, it was intended, it would have 100% been listed in the patch notes, NO change with that much impact on your gameplay will ever be a "hidden feature". For that, not only do I apologize to you all as this was NEVER meant to be a feature of these creatures, but I will personally replace and rebuild each item you lost to this "punishing attribute" of The Colossus regardless of how long it takes.

@GameOva and @Shazzy know my thoughts on any mechanic that punishes the hard work of players as we have had long and hard discussions on how "breakable" items should be. I am of the mindset that once you get an item, that item should last you if not forever, damn near it, with you just needing to use resources and such to keep it repaired and in good shape. Otherwise why even try to get best in slot items? Sure items will eventually break down over a long period of time, but that period of time should feel worth it for the time put into acquiring it. This is "Diablo Loot", and if you lost your loot in that game, you would rage quit. But because "UO" we seem to have a little more of a thick skin, but there is a certain point, where UOAlive doesn't believe you need to "suck it up this is UO".

Now this is not a "Blame Game". This is what we call, the first growing pains of our Merger. You have two very different mindsets of how UO should be and mechanics not being cross checked and tested prior to live. Had I seen this, I would never had made it through to live. And for that we are all responsible. You should not be the beta test. And if we as the developers of UOAlive disagree on a mechanic, until we can come to an agreement, neither of the mechanics should go into the game. So for that we as a team failed you, and again we apologize. Gameova and Shazzy are from a much different Era of UO when in game mechanics were more punishing which made you feel tethered to a server due to that "time investment"(3-6 months to GM taming), and UOAlive was created to break that "MMO Grind" "I spent 10102010 hours in this game, and even though I am unhappy, I am staying" in favor of a better community.

Now, that is not saying they didn't have a great community, they did and that is why the Merger was a great idea and since then, UOAlive has been better off for it and their combined knowledge! We could not be happier to have them as an integral part of the team. They are not around today so I will let them explain their own opinions below on what happened here, but this is our formal apology to you all and hopefully this has brought some good with it, the removal of "punishing mechanics" from UOAlive for once and for all. Let's go even further and use this momentum to make other mechanics that are in need of more than just "a grind" in game better too! (that said, we are looking at cooking too, and hear you that it is a grind just to be a grind, feel free to open a suggestion thread as we believe there is a lot of potential there for improvement too and would love to hear your thoughts as we work on it!)

P.S. At the end of the day this is still a video game. These are still pixels on a screen. What is not fake however are the people playing and working on UOAlive, their feelings, their responsibilities, and their lives. So we ask that everyone reflect on that thought because as heated as you may get to lose a pixel in game, we are just as heated that you lost it. Our goal has and always has been to give you the best goddamn experience in UO as we can without interruption. When things go wrong, we are acutely aware, we are working on it, and we are just as upset as you... however we take it out on the code, not each other.

Feel free to chip in anytime you want if you feel you can help (thank you Eleos for just that today). We are a community that elevates each other! If history says anything of UOAlive is that we make sure you all have an excellent experience in game, bug or not, we have always gone above and beyond for you all(and you for us), so we ask for that continued courtesy in times like this. It is a Safe Space environment for everyone here! We just wanna sit back and play UO, but when shit happens(and it will happen), we will always do our best to fix it, and we continue to enjoy UOAlive together with the best goddamn community in the UO private server world. We ARE each others Colossus.


General:
  • Added EyeOfTheTravesty, LardOfParoxysmus, CapturedEssence to ML Storage Boxes
  • Possible addition of Magincia Bazaar Mall Vendor to eventually replace Zento Marketplace. Will require more testing.
  • You now gain DOUBLE XP in Dungeons. This encourages players to NOT macro skills even more in their leveling process!
  • You now gain DOUBLE XP in the Britain Crafting Blessed Area! Encourages a centralized crafting area.
Bug Fixes:
  • Untranslated Tome No Longer Stackable
  • Cocoa Tree produce Seeds
Adjustments:
  • REMOVED ALL FUNCTIONALITY FROM THE BASE GAME FOR ANY MONSTER TO DESTROY A WEAPON/ARMOR/OR PIECE OF GEAR beyond the NORMAL methods of durability loss.
  • Monstrous Grizz, Ilhenir, and Verite Elementals no longer damage equipment as a "mechanic" beyond normal durability loss.
  • Colossus have been majorly adjusted:
    • Each now has a very clear weakness, this means, some will be susceptible to melee, ranged, magic, pets, mind blasts etc... fire, cold, poison, energy damage etc. work together, figure them out and share with your friends!
    • General loot from them is much better
    • They drop the proper colored Ore along with granite
    • These creatures will no longer do damage to equipment beyond normal equipment durability loss.
    • Their dexterity has been greatly reduced so they act like COLOSSUS not road runner.
    • Hit points have been adjusted to match their new levels of weakness.
 
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