UOT Plans While Away for 2 Months

[Amairgen]

My annual winter trip is fast approaching. As mentioned before I will be away for 2 months but will try to check in daily (Forum for sure).

So . . When I get a chance here is what I will be working on for us while soaking up the sun and margaritas. These pretty much follow my 'HDL' but maybe with additional detail.

(A) Finish up new 'Random' custom AI for additional Mobs to make them more interesting:
Ogre Lord
Blood El
Poison El
Daemon
Efreet
Juka Lord
Moloch
Ophidian Matriarch
Ophidian Shaman
Terathon Matriarch
Terathon Avenger
Treefellow
Tsuki Wolf
etc.

(B) New Invasions for random cities that will have random new custom mobs/bosses/rewards and run in waves similar to Champs.

(C) General Monster Loot Drops (reduce garbage and add Random Extra Goodies

(D) Veteran's Rewards (to make them more interesting/rewarding - also - improve the order and timing of availability)

(E) New Shard Rares (Daily - Weekly - Monthly)

If these work out well on the mobile Test Server I will have with me, I will try to bring them live to you by my remote access to the live server. I will not do this unless I also have Internet access to the server and the Forum for a two to three day consecutive period.

Cheers

[Valishan]

It's taken me a while to run into the new AI enough to have a solid opinion, but as a relatively new player I have to say that adding that AI to more creatures is a very bad idea. They're literally unkillable at my level as a mage (150% sdi, GM+ skills), and I struggle to see how they could be any better for warriors.

1) It's not just a new AI, these are new creature templates that don't have the appropriate Slayer vulnerabilities applied; for example, normal ancient liches are effected by undead slayer as they should be but the new AI ancient liches are not. It's a significant problem when it comes to dealing with these things that have unheard of superpowers.

2) That drain is not just a 75%~85% drain of both mana and hp, but it also hits from off-screen and after line-of-sight is broken. That's entirely too powerful in general, but especially for characters that don't have the new spellbooks and abilities that are locked behind quests where these things can appear and *completely* shut down progress even when they're not even part of an otherwise do-able quest.

3) They can instantly full-heal via Spirit Speak at any time once they're down to <=~35% health, including during what should be the animation for the final explode-flamestrike combo. This one combined with the lack of Slayer vulnerability is just too much for someone new on the shard to deal with.

I already consider certain places off limits because of these new AI creatures being present, adding more creatures with this AI is going to lock new players into hunting only in trammel sheep pens. If this AI has to exist, it should be Tartarus only so that new people to the shard can do all these quests with power scroll drops without fear that some random Superman version of a basic mob is going to show up and ruin everything. I can't imagine, for example, that it's considered reasonable that we're supposed to be able to do the Ossian Grimmoire quest that takes you to Rock dungeon where 4 of these unkillable liches hang around the area with the quest mob (after you've run through an utter swarm of Titans and Cyclopes who may also have this AI, if you use the dungeon's front door).

Seriously, as much as I don't want to be a jerk about this, I have to be as emphatic as possible. These new AI mobs are beyond broken. They turn areas that anyone with GM skills should be able to handle into a place where only the best kitted players could actually thrive. Please make them Tartarus exclusive at the absolute least.

[Amairgen]

Thank you very much for that detailed report. *Much appreciated*. We needed to hear from a newer citizen perspective.

I can see there is much for me to do with the new AI scripts and I will definitely do so. The dragons are also presenting some unique challenges.

I am on the edge of 'Temporarily' removing all these creatures from the shard until they have been reworked more carefully although their existence has provided opportunity for community testing and input.

Believe me . . this will get sorted out. I am sorry for any frustrations this has caused and your input will play a role in the final result.

*bows*

[alk760]

Only way i've been able to kill some of the new AI was trapping it behind a wall of Para Fields.
Now is a great time for the buddy system when exploring dungeons.

[Amairgen]

I have also seen Obiwan kill them by keeping them busy with EVs while casting on them. I think he used Ancient Alchemy pots for mana refresh when needed combined with Mana Regen and SDI on some equipment *guessing* These new AI creatures should not be over populated but should be smaller random chance encounters. When we get it right I plan to give them some good loot drops so they become hunting targets.

Anyway . . a few moments ago I made the following 'Temporary' changes on the live server:
1) New AI Dragons should only spawn on Tartarus and in smaller numbers. Also for now they are untamable.
2) New AI Ancient Lichs and Titans have been removed (hopefully all) for a rework

Community input is important for the greater good.

Cheers

[Valishan]

Thank you so much for this.

I also greatly appreciate the work you're doing on this. I can only imagine how difficult it is to work within the limitations of a game from 1997, especially where combat is concerned; given everything else I've seen of UOT, I have no doubt you'll be successful in the end.