An update by Leurocian was posted on Stratics regarding Pet Summon balls

Hail and Well Met,

We want to thank everyone for giving us your input on the Crystal Ball of Pet Summoning and its current use in PvP. After assessing your feedback, we have decided that the following adjustments are needed:

* Pet summoning balls should unhide the summoner when attempting to summon her pet.
* Pet summoning balls should have a couple second casting animation with the chance to disrupt like other spellcasting.
* Pet summoning balls should have a reuse delay of 15 seconds.
* Pet summoning balls cannot be used while in animal form.

We feel these changes should balance the Crystal Ball of Pet Summoning in PvP while having minimal impact in PvM. QA is currently reviewing these changes internally. Once the changes pass internal review, they should appear on a public Test Center for an upcoming publish.

Once these changes are on Test Center, please be sure to send us your feedback on these changes.

Good gaming!


(Wasn't posted on UOHerald, the official source for UO news, but still)

How long exactly is a couple second?

Wait, that site still exists? I figured it would have died from inactivity by now.

84 seconds... give or take? hehe

Thoughts:

1) The summoning time is fine, I hope it is no longer than the time to mount an ethy

2) Why include a 15 second reuse delay if there is a casting time? That seems like overkill.

3) What about using multiple balls linked to the same pet? Multiple balls with multiple pets? Really only applies to weaker, non-pvp animals - so I'm hoping there is no 15 second delay between using two different balls linked to different pets.

In other words, for number 3 above: The fix should be implemented in *pet* code, not crystal ball code for this aspect, IMO.

~M

My thoughts on your thoughts:

1) All very good.

2) Won't be heard here (UOF).

3) If you want them to be heard you need to post them on their officially-non-official forums.

3a) Don't forget to spam it in every thread possible.

I've never tried to link a pet to multiple balls, can you do that?

Even if you have multiple pet balls all linked to different pets, you're still limited by the follower slots.

Yes you can, I've had 2 balls per pet in the past when the insurance bug was a possible threat, one ball in my backpack, and another in the bank box. For the proposed changes, I see more pet deaths in mob situations where they just won't follow you away, even with 120 lore, vet, and taming. Silly pet just wants to keep bashing aggressive critters even to it's dying breath. I hope if the 15 seconds reuse remains, they quickly learn a better follow me and leave the nasties alone instinct in the near future.

It has already been clarified that the reuse timer is tied to the character. If you use a pet ball you can not use any other for 15 seconds.

* UPDATE *

Will the tamer also freeze in place while he is summoning his pet (like Magery spellcasting),
or is this a spellcasting ability that can be used while running (like Holy Light etc.)?

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The summoner will freeze in place.

Patrick "Leurocian" Malott
Lead Designer, Ultima Online
EA Mythic

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* Pet summoning balls should have a reuse delay of 15 seconds.

AND

No - players should have the delay, not the pet balls. Else people will just carry a bunch of them to avoid the timer.

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The delay is on the player, not an individual pet ball. Just wanted to clarify that.

Patrick "Leurocian" Malott
Lead Designer, Ultima Online
EA Mythic

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Leurocian -

Your stated goal is to balance the crystal ball usage in PvP.

With that in mind why aren't these changes being implemented solely as part of the Felucca ruleset? What goal are you shooting for with throwing these rules across the entire game?

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Not speaking for Leurocian, but in general, consistent code is stable code - setting up special cases is something best avoided unless it's really necessary.

E. Jeremy Dalberg
UO Community Coordinator
EA Mythic
www.uo.com