Gimme 5 - June, 2003
Answered by: Vex and Kerowyn
IanStorm - The game guides on UO.com are full of useful information—what else can we look forward to seeing here in the coming months?
Kerowyn - Aside from more updates? We currently have plans to revamp the layout of some of the sections within the Playguide, so that they're more consistent and packed with more useful information. You may have noticed the start of such changes in the Bestiary section. We'd also like to add more content and flesh out some of the sections that are currently a bit bare—the History section immediately springs to mind—and possibly consolidate some of the smaller, miscellaneous areas. The overall goal is to make the Playguide a useful tool for both new players and old, with information that's easy to find and understand. And, as always, we welcome player feedback! The guides are up there for you. If there's anything that's unclear, or if there's something you think should be up there and isn't, let us know. :)
IanStorm - The new wearables being added with Publish 18 look great in 3D! Will they be modified at a later date to be seen in the 2D client? For example, the flower garland appears as a flowery graphic when it's in your pack, but put it on and it looks like a normal bandana; and a fur cape when worn, looks like a normal cloak.
Vex - In general, it is a pretty simple matter to create new single tiles and menu artwork for both clients, because these are small single pieces of artwork. However, creating new equipables is much more of a challenge. To do that, we have to render the item many times, so there is a version of the item corresponding to every frame of every animation available to humans in the game, in every facing. Once the tiles are rendered, an artist has to touch up every frame individually. When so many frames of artwork are needed, the patch size tends to become much larger. We were able to create new equipables with the Age of Shadows expansion because the new items were all weapons, and the various processes involved are simpler. So, in short, it is a very costly procedure to create new 2D wearables. We don't have any plans to do so now, but that may change in the future.
IanStorm - Where can I find plague beasts, now that Yew has returned to normal?
Vex - As I understand it, after Yew was fixed up they had to migrate to other less hospitable swamps
IanStorm - Will dragon scale armor ever be useful again and will players ever be able to enhance it? Also, will dragon scale shields ever be implemented?
Vex - I thought dragon scale armor was still pretty useful. It's great for building specialized resistance suits. Those are good when fighting tough creatures with specific damage types, when you can't get a suit together that is high in all resistances. Want to fireproof yourself? A nice mixture of red dragon scale and verite will do the trick. Right now, we don't have any plans to make it so that players can enhance them, or to create dragon scale shields.
IanStorm - The enhancement of weapons and such is great. What about us poor fletchers?
Vex - Eventually, we want to get to a state where runic crafting and special materials are available to most crafting professions. We'd like tinkers to be able to create magic jewelry, carpenters to create magic shields, clubs, and staves, and fletchers to be able to create magic bows. Right now, these items are on our wish list but are not scheduled for an upcoming publish, so I can't even make up a reasonable timeframe for these game additions.