[Community News] Press Pass -Atlanta Town Hall

[Tabbitha]

taken from Thread :- [Community News] Press Pass -Atlanta Town Hall found in UO.UHall

Well all speculation can end now ,as the News is released .

Read whats REALLY going to come with UOKR

Atlanta Town Hall Notes

We arrived late, only 5 minutes, but even still there was a line out the door to get in. Press Pass in plain view, Camera in hand, Camcorder and tripod in Ancients, we made our way through the crowd. We each received a lovely UO poster upon reaching the entry, but the T-shirts were gone. I immediately sought permission for the video I was about to take. Aaron Cohen, smiled and asked who I was. "Braelynn Aria, of Stratics Staff" I proudly proclaimed. His eyes widen as he said, "Yes please, all the information is free, please share it with the world." And so I give you, the notes, as Ancient took them. I also have 2 hours of video feed which I am searching for a home for so that you may view it.

There will be NO Dwarves in UO!

This is what we saw first. Which most got a good chuckle out of. The rest of my report will be more or less highlights and notes as taken by Ancient of Origin, more will follow as I watch the video

UO Kingdom reborn is going to have many new aspects. Everything is going to be redrawn with more detail and color. (a note on color, they will be toning away, as much as possible any retinal damage caused by bright neon items. The items will still retain a discerning color by which to differentiate them from lesser items, but they will be more of an earthy tone that simply stands out against the more natural colors of the environment) There will be a new interface which will mean fewer clicks. They are also revamping the new player experience and quest system combined with improved skill training. It's EA's most significant investment since their launch of UO.

Paper dolls will now have toggle tabs, one for armor, one for clothing for instant switches.

As you already know Backpacks are being revamped for "efficiency". Aaron Cohen spoke of a "loot all" button from corpses, which will dump their loot into a backpack. This will be revisited due to comments about needed filters for this.

Another nice new feature, will be a gump that calculates for your resists, LRC, LMC, HCI, DCI & SDI – I will need to review the video to be sure, but that’s an overall summery of that feature.

A new feature of the interface are "hot bars" you will be able to drag and drop, spells, bandages, potions etc. into these for use (a la Diablo belts). You will also be able to stack multiple hot bars if you so choose. This is essentially meant to help you decrease your quick spell icons. Cohen alluded to the use of Assist becoming unnecessary.

There was brief mention of: improved chat system, new housing tool and faster targeting systems. It was also confirmed that there will be Male and Female Gargoyles in Stygian Abyss. When I (Braelynn) asked about them I was told that there was a purpose and that they understand the want for UO to continue to hold to its beginnings, but the reason would make itself apparent at the right time.

UO Kingdom Reborn will be FREE, Stygian Abyss however will be like any other expansion and will be a purchasable upgrade (no amounts mentioned) in which the Gargoyle race will be introduced along with: new abilities, UO's Largest Dungeon, new monsters, new skills, new magic, new craftables, new pets, new quests, and new housing sets.

PVP in UOKR is a HIGH priority. Cohen mentioned that not only do the Devs play everyday, but also a good portion of their time is spent in PVP, some spending more than half their time in PVP alone. They are working to revitalize PVP, although they did not go into specifics.

Some suggestions made that they took notes on are:
Making more items stackable, such as: blackrock, seeds & potions.
Jewelry Boxes were discussed for helping with space issues, as were Bod books for TMaps and Bookcases for Rune Book libraries.
A special "Vault" token for those wishing to take time away from the game without loosing possessions over houses.
New map interfaces to find guild mates.

A couple other features/tidbits that are still fresh in my memory, without viewing the videos are: a new Zoomable interface, especially helpful for those interested in home design.
When asked about the pictures that were leaked, they indicated that you could indeed sit on beds now, though it was not necessarily a planned feature, after a overwhelming pleas from the audience Cohen announced, “It’s in!” As to the picture of a player house with new plants such as grape vines, watermelon plants, bushes and other plant life, well let’s just say it was dodged. No real answer as to wether or not that will be something we can do.

I believe that is all I have for you for now. Hopefully we will find a home for the videos I took to be viewed, but in the mean time I will review them for more information that was not included in these brief notes!

Braelynn Aria
Origin Senior Reporter

[Tabbitha]

I will keep adding to this thread as more gets posted on Stratics.I am especially looking for Pictures atm Check out the pics at bottom of this post ,and see such things as

• Notice hotbar across bottom.
  • The new paperdoll!
    DONT ASK,lol. Apparently, no one has pants yet in the game.
    • The new Stygian Abyss race.

and much ,much more to see [ click on the links under each picture in the gallery below ]
I have highlighted some of the more interesting things




- UOKR releases spring, UOSA releases summer
- UOKR is free
- UOKR is only a client/graphic upgrade... no new content
- UOAssist will NOT work with UOKR
- Legacy clients retired when adoption of UOKR is "around 95%"
- Will have an updated New Player experience
- Beta will be "pretty open" and lots of people should get in
- Some shard-specific GM placed objects may not make the UOKR transfer
- You can zoom waaay out, but this may not make it into the game
- You can also zoom waaay in, but they are going to lock it before the graphics start to look too pixelated
- Character sheet will display ALL relevent character data (HCI, LRC, etc)
- Backpack is now a window, with items and names listed in rows
- You can still drag to and from backpack
- They may institute double-clicking items to loot them
- Mentioned a Loot All button and people immediately jumped on them...
- Classic interface is a maybe
- Hotbars are not movable right now, but may be
- Planning for 5 total hotbars, maybe more if needed
- No more random icons on the screen
- Potion in a hotbar will link to the next like potion when used
- Paperdoll has a seperate Clothes and Armor tab to make management easier. This does NOT affect the current system or the layering system.
- UI Skinning a possibility, but not at release of UOKR
- 512MB memory recommended, some success with 256MB
- 3D Effects will all have sliders to turn up or down
- Targeting is a whirly 3D effect
- New spells all looked reminiscent of their former selves... not a disco upgrade
- Earth Elementals are HUGE... they throw bolders now?
- They are referencing the original design docs of critters as they upgrade
- They hope to stick with a Teen rating with new graphics

- UO Stygian Abyss is going to be a full content expansion
- Gargoyles will be the new race
- Gargoyle females will be explained
- Gargoyles will do "cool stuff" in the game
- Hints that crafters will appreciate this expansion

- If anything, the Dev team walked away knowing that people want anything that could possibly be stackable, stackable

- Some PvP redirect...


I will add more if I remember anything else.

EDIT:
- Legacy client and UOKR client seem like they will be protected by the same anti-cheat method on release. Darkscribe wouldn't talk much about it, but impressed that the legacy client wouldn't continue to be a scripter/duper's haven.

Sorry the pictures are sorta blurry...

[Carl]

Im really disapointed

[Tabbitha]

Originally Posted by Carl

Im really disapointed

............At what exactly *is curious *

[Carl]

Just the overall look of it. I dont even feel like ellaborating. Eh. Ascension even looked better than this, granted I know its still in development but it looks like crap in my opinion.

[Escaflowne/Drew]

I think its looking pretty ace

[Hanse Davion]

Think thats a bit of an opinion that ya can't explain really Carl. Everyone's going to feel nostalgic with the current 2D client, myself included. But in the long-run I think the new client doesn't look that bad, and indeed keeps most of UO's isometric charms - I can tell where in Britain those people are in the screenshots even from poor quality picture thumbnails.

Its one of those things I think will grow on people eventually, at least if Kingdom Reborn client plays smoothly.

[Tabbitha]

Originally Posted by Carl

Just the overall look of it. I dont even feel like ellaborating. Eh. Ascension even looked better than this, granted I know its still in development but it looks like crap in my opinion.

If your referring to the current graphics,yes they do not look the best.

I think thats just pre beta release though.I am sure by the time it gets on test,we will see a much better 'look and feel ' to it all

[Adam]

I'm just wondering if it'll suffer the same problems as the current 3d client, in terms of lag near areas of activity, like luna, or anywhere with a fair amount of people or npc's

[Carl]

Im not arguing that UO needs an upgrade, but look at how that character model is standing. Look how undetailed the gumps are, and come on now, gargoyles? Im sorry I dont find that something to be excited about. They should have taken more time to make this worthy for gamers who enjoy 3d graphics, it looks like a variant of diablo 2 to me. this is 2007, not 1999.