12-16-2011, 08:07 AM
I have a few suggestions for the server which might attract more players and hold onto new players more effectively, as well as enhance game-play quite a bit and reduce the 'staleness' that fills the air of our server. As far as I'm concerned, this shard is still in it's developing stages; not even a year old. We all want it to grow and flourish, and the following are steps we can take to really build upon what we already have here at Imagine Nation. These are merely suggestions please take them as that. Your input is necessary and appreciated 
First, skillgain should be a bit faster.
IMO, crafting skill rates are pretty good but gathering skills and mostly every other skill besides meditation takes quite a lot of time to gm. Most people who want to play UO are veterans; the deterrence of having to macro for a week straight before you're even ready to begin playing is enough to make a true Ultima player overlook this server. Granted lots of people including myself have invested lots of time and effort, I think it would be a good idea for the health of the server if there was a power hour every day; as in .2 gain instead of .1, at the current gain rate. Also, a possible constant boost to the gain rates for non-craft skills; most importantly gathering skills (mining, lumberjack, fishing).
Second, certain skills should be more effective/useful.
-Cooking is almost entirely useless, yet incredibly hard to gain. There are sweet applications for this skill that I believe would work really well here PvP-wise. I've posted suggestions before about 'mana regen soup' and 'cooked dragon meats' and how they should work.
-Meditation is an essential skill, but I speak for most (if not all) players when I say that it is beyond slow, bordering the verge of uselessness. Meditation needs another rework/drastic buff :/ I'm more than willing to help test/develop.
-Anatomy should govern your minimum damage with weapons; reducing those weapon hits in which you deal ~0 damage (bunk hits) at GM.
-Arms Lore should govern your critical strike chance; GM Arms Lore should increase your critical chance by 10% of what it is now or something.
-Taste ID should govern how much health/mana you gain from drinking healing/mana potions respectively. Perhaps a 10% increase at GM, with the current refreshment values obtained at 50% Taste ID. Edible treats, mentioned above in the Cooking section should only be usable at GM Taste ID.
-Forensic Evaluation should govern the amount of hp you lose when you resurrect a player with bandages. *Dead player's health upon res should stay static at 50 for now* For example, at 40% forensics you lose 60 hp for ressing. At 50% forensics, you lose 50 hp, equal to the hp that the other player is ressed with. at 60% forensics, you lose 40 hp, 70% lose 30 hp, etc to 100% lose 0 hp. This skill is incredibly hard to raise to 100% here so this seems like a perfect way to greatly increase it's utility.
-Camping; the messages "It takes a few moments to secure the camp." and "The camp is now secure." should do something. Perhaps at a campfire you/your party/your guild get a bonus health/mana regen?
Third, worldly navigation should be easier.
There should be bank boxes, ankhs, and runes to the Crow's Nest in every city, and at the entrances to every dungeon. The help menu stuck function should be infinitely usable, and should definitely take your alignment (blue, crim, red) into consideration when it chooses a place to dump you. It would even be really nice to choose where it brings you, or to make it bring everyone to a universal spot such as the Casino. Also the stuck feature should only freeze you if you are alive when you use it. If you are dead, then you should instantly be teleported.
Finally, LOOT!
There is some pretty cool loot on the server, but most of it is not PvP effective. As far as practical PvP weapons go there are power weapons (decent, but extremely plentiful and therefore cheap), vanqs (relatively good damage unless high armor, pretty easy to get....), and the craftable PvP weapons: HH, SDK, elven bow, cho ko nu (w/e), and the black widow. That's a pretty good lineup but honestly the majority of these weapons, especially the higher end weapons, are too resource heavy to be a practical PvP item. As of now they are all basically toys/bank items. I suggest the resources needed for the craft of these items is reduced drastically, since you need the recipe to craft them. I also suggest that the other craftable weapons be given a use. If each one got it's own recipe, hunting could be made a lot easier with specialized weapons dedicated to the job you are trying to get done:
Lionheart Axe should deal high damage to amphibia/reptiles.
Blood Tentacle should deal high damage to demons.
Diamond Katana should deal high damage to dragons.
Dwarven Battle Axe should deal high damge to Ophidians and Terethans.
Dwarven War Hammer should deal high damage to elementals.
Serpent's Tongue should deal high damage to serpents.
As far as armor goes, there is lootable armor (defense-invul), craftable plate (ingots), and craftable leather (leather/hide/ingots). As of now the difference between something disposable like fire armor and the "best" armor, sapphire, is 19 AR points... High level armors need to have a strong benefit for how difficult they are to gather for/craft. I suggest the 4 highest plate types (oceanic, daemon, reactive, sapphire) and possibly the higher end craftable leather types receive a slight AR buff and a stat buff.
Oceanic- 52 AR. +1 each stat per piece (^excluding helmet^)= +5 each stat/set
Daemon Steal- 55* AR. +2 stat per piece (^)= +10 each stat/set
Reactive- 60* AR. +3 stat per piece (^)= +15 each stat/set
Sapphire- 65* AR. +4 stat per piece (^)= +20 each stat/set
For the high end leather armors which require dragon scales/demon stuff etc to craft, they should get a stat bonus similar to plate but possibly only up to +2 to each stat instead of up to +4 to keep them balanced with craftable plate, and specialize them for +str +dex +int specifically instead of all 3.
It also wouldn't be a bad idea to develop a new class of craftable armor with certain resistances/properties, geared towards PvP. A full set (5 or 6 pieces) grants the wearer a special bonus, but AR ratings for these armors should be kept in check with respect to their properties. It's easy to get creative with the resources required, and we can also give synthesis to the useless craftable weapons!
For example:
Serpent Ringmail (ringmail with gorget)- Poison immunity. Mid-high AR rating. Careful! A Serpent Tongue will tear you up if you you are wearing this set. Requires GM Smith/Tinker/Poisoning to craft. Resources: Lots of serpent scales, some iron, and 20 greater cure potions per piece. 200 scales per piece? I don't know how many drop per serpent...
Undead Armor (standard bone set)- Field immunity (para, fire, poison). Mid-high AR rating. Judgement Hammer slaps this set around. GM Tinker/Forensic Eval/Spirit Speak to craft. Resources: Lots of bones, some lunar bones, and 1 player's heart per piece.
Daemon Armor (standard bone set, helm replaced with 'orc helm')- Reactive Armor. Mid AR rating. Blood Tentacle oWnZ this set. GM Smith/Tinker/Alch/Cooking to craft. Resources: Lots of Daemon hearts, some Daemon steel ingots, 100 reactive scrolls per piece.
Dragon Chainmail (chainmail set with coif, no gorget)- Flamestrike immunity. Low AR rating. Physical damage should be harsh with this set, and the (Superior) Diamond Katana's dragon-slaying power should be the great equalizer to keep this set balanced. Can't take damage from FS, but can die in 2 hits from an SDK. GM Smith/Tinker/Alchemy/Remove Trap to craft. Resources: All different types of dragon leathers, scales, some ingots, and 100 wyrm hearts per piece.
Ophidian Studded Leather (6 piece)- Constant health/mana/stamina regeneration (5 hp/mana/stam every 5 seconds). Low-mid AR rating. Dwarven Battle Axe is super effective! GM Tailor/Tinker/Alchemy/Camping to craft. Not sure for resources.
Heaven Platemail (6 piece)- Paralysis (spell and field) and lightning immunity. High AR rating. Hell's Halberd is extra effective. GM Smith/Tinker/Carpenter/Inscription to craft. Not sure for resources.
Elemental Platemail (6 piece)- +25 each stat. Mid-high AR rating. Dwarven War Hammer counters it. GM Smith/Tinker/Cooking/Camping to craft. Resources: 1 element of air, 1 element of fire, 1 element of water, 1 element of earth (new rare elemental drops?) per piece?
I know, I know... That's a lot of shit. Do I expect it all to happen? No. Do I expect any of it to happen? I sure hope so.
Hope you GM's see some of these ideas as relevant. More importantly, players; please state your opinions, feedback, ideas, etc.
Edit: The list continues
Tournies- There should be regular, schedueled 1v1 and 2v2 tournies for Rank Points.
Faction System- Order and Chaos players need to have some reason to fight eachother. If we place great rewards or high benefits upon faction warfare, we effectively create an incentive for people to start going Order, getting together, and hunting the overwhelming Chaos population. Here is my idea:
Faction Rank System- There should be a PvP rank system based off of points which you accumulate by winning tournies/challenging other players for rank points, possibly at a designated location (Brawler's society?). Tournies would be the ONLY place where these points are generated/earned, and there is a cap of 100. Perhaps 2 points earned for winning a 1v1, 1 point for second place in a 1v1. For 2v2, 1 point per player of the winning team. They can be passed around from player to player by challenging a player of the opposite faction to a duel, betting with Rank Points. Consented duels should not be the only way to get them from players, Heads should be exchangeable for these points. If you turn in somebody's head, you should get 25% of their Rank Points from them. There could be 5 ranks, each rank giving a cumulative bonus. The neutral and guildless can accumulate these points and gain rank as well, but the bonuses will be muted since this is a faction incentive system.
5-25 Points- Private. +1 each stat, 5% discount at town vendors. "Private Lord Makaveli"
26-50 Points- Corporal. +10 mace/fencing/swords/archery, 5% discount at town vendors. "Corporal Lord Makaveli"
51-75 Points- Sergeant. +2 each stat, 5% discount at town vendors. "Sergeant Lord Makaveli"
76-99 Points- Marshall. +1 each stat, 2 mana/sec constant regen, 5% discount at town vendors. "Marshall Lord Makaveli"
100 Points- Warlord. +1 each stat, 2 hp/sec constant regen, 5% discount at town vendors. "Warlod Lord Makaveli"
We could even add "Control Points" for towns as a guild-level competitive system. Guilds can participate in a rolling control battle over certain (unguarded) towns, control of the town gives 25% discount at town vendors.
CTF style: If the town is uncontrolled, 5 guys from the same guild must double click and stay within proximity of some beacon for x minutes uncontested to capture it. If any other guild's member is within proximity, the timer pauses. If any other guild's member is able to double click the beacon from 1 tile away, the town becomes uncontrolled again.
If the town is controlled, 5 opposing guildmates must must double click the beacon to begin an x minute neutralization process, and then once neutralized all double click it again to begin capturing the town. If any guild member from the current occupant guild is within proximity, the neutralization timer pauses. If any occupant guildie double clicks the beacon,the neutralization process is stopped, effectively defending their occupancy.
All of this should be broadcasted
First, skillgain should be a bit faster.
IMO, crafting skill rates are pretty good but gathering skills and mostly every other skill besides meditation takes quite a lot of time to gm. Most people who want to play UO are veterans; the deterrence of having to macro for a week straight before you're even ready to begin playing is enough to make a true Ultima player overlook this server. Granted lots of people including myself have invested lots of time and effort, I think it would be a good idea for the health of the server if there was a power hour every day; as in .2 gain instead of .1, at the current gain rate. Also, a possible constant boost to the gain rates for non-craft skills; most importantly gathering skills (mining, lumberjack, fishing).
Second, certain skills should be more effective/useful.
-Cooking is almost entirely useless, yet incredibly hard to gain. There are sweet applications for this skill that I believe would work really well here PvP-wise. I've posted suggestions before about 'mana regen soup' and 'cooked dragon meats' and how they should work.
-Meditation is an essential skill, but I speak for most (if not all) players when I say that it is beyond slow, bordering the verge of uselessness. Meditation needs another rework/drastic buff :/ I'm more than willing to help test/develop.
-Anatomy should govern your minimum damage with weapons; reducing those weapon hits in which you deal ~0 damage (bunk hits) at GM.
-Arms Lore should govern your critical strike chance; GM Arms Lore should increase your critical chance by 10% of what it is now or something.
-Taste ID should govern how much health/mana you gain from drinking healing/mana potions respectively. Perhaps a 10% increase at GM, with the current refreshment values obtained at 50% Taste ID. Edible treats, mentioned above in the Cooking section should only be usable at GM Taste ID.
-Forensic Evaluation should govern the amount of hp you lose when you resurrect a player with bandages. *Dead player's health upon res should stay static at 50 for now* For example, at 40% forensics you lose 60 hp for ressing. At 50% forensics, you lose 50 hp, equal to the hp that the other player is ressed with. at 60% forensics, you lose 40 hp, 70% lose 30 hp, etc to 100% lose 0 hp. This skill is incredibly hard to raise to 100% here so this seems like a perfect way to greatly increase it's utility.
-Camping; the messages "It takes a few moments to secure the camp." and "The camp is now secure." should do something. Perhaps at a campfire you/your party/your guild get a bonus health/mana regen?
Third, worldly navigation should be easier.
There should be bank boxes, ankhs, and runes to the Crow's Nest in every city, and at the entrances to every dungeon. The help menu stuck function should be infinitely usable, and should definitely take your alignment (blue, crim, red) into consideration when it chooses a place to dump you. It would even be really nice to choose where it brings you, or to make it bring everyone to a universal spot such as the Casino. Also the stuck feature should only freeze you if you are alive when you use it. If you are dead, then you should instantly be teleported.
Finally, LOOT!
There is some pretty cool loot on the server, but most of it is not PvP effective. As far as practical PvP weapons go there are power weapons (decent, but extremely plentiful and therefore cheap), vanqs (relatively good damage unless high armor, pretty easy to get....), and the craftable PvP weapons: HH, SDK, elven bow, cho ko nu (w/e), and the black widow. That's a pretty good lineup but honestly the majority of these weapons, especially the higher end weapons, are too resource heavy to be a practical PvP item. As of now they are all basically toys/bank items. I suggest the resources needed for the craft of these items is reduced drastically, since you need the recipe to craft them. I also suggest that the other craftable weapons be given a use. If each one got it's own recipe, hunting could be made a lot easier with specialized weapons dedicated to the job you are trying to get done:
Lionheart Axe should deal high damage to amphibia/reptiles.
Blood Tentacle should deal high damage to demons.
Diamond Katana should deal high damage to dragons.
Dwarven Battle Axe should deal high damge to Ophidians and Terethans.
Dwarven War Hammer should deal high damage to elementals.
Serpent's Tongue should deal high damage to serpents.
As far as armor goes, there is lootable armor (defense-invul), craftable plate (ingots), and craftable leather (leather/hide/ingots). As of now the difference between something disposable like fire armor and the "best" armor, sapphire, is 19 AR points... High level armors need to have a strong benefit for how difficult they are to gather for/craft. I suggest the 4 highest plate types (oceanic, daemon, reactive, sapphire) and possibly the higher end craftable leather types receive a slight AR buff and a stat buff.
Oceanic- 52 AR. +1 each stat per piece (^excluding helmet^)= +5 each stat/set
Daemon Steal- 55* AR. +2 stat per piece (^)= +10 each stat/set
Reactive- 60* AR. +3 stat per piece (^)= +15 each stat/set
Sapphire- 65* AR. +4 stat per piece (^)= +20 each stat/set
For the high end leather armors which require dragon scales/demon stuff etc to craft, they should get a stat bonus similar to plate but possibly only up to +2 to each stat instead of up to +4 to keep them balanced with craftable plate, and specialize them for +str +dex +int specifically instead of all 3.
It also wouldn't be a bad idea to develop a new class of craftable armor with certain resistances/properties, geared towards PvP. A full set (5 or 6 pieces) grants the wearer a special bonus, but AR ratings for these armors should be kept in check with respect to their properties. It's easy to get creative with the resources required, and we can also give synthesis to the useless craftable weapons!
For example:
Serpent Ringmail (ringmail with gorget)- Poison immunity. Mid-high AR rating. Careful! A Serpent Tongue will tear you up if you you are wearing this set. Requires GM Smith/Tinker/Poisoning to craft. Resources: Lots of serpent scales, some iron, and 20 greater cure potions per piece. 200 scales per piece? I don't know how many drop per serpent...
Undead Armor (standard bone set)- Field immunity (para, fire, poison). Mid-high AR rating. Judgement Hammer slaps this set around. GM Tinker/Forensic Eval/Spirit Speak to craft. Resources: Lots of bones, some lunar bones, and 1 player's heart per piece.
Daemon Armor (standard bone set, helm replaced with 'orc helm')- Reactive Armor. Mid AR rating. Blood Tentacle oWnZ this set. GM Smith/Tinker/Alch/Cooking to craft. Resources: Lots of Daemon hearts, some Daemon steel ingots, 100 reactive scrolls per piece.
Dragon Chainmail (chainmail set with coif, no gorget)- Flamestrike immunity. Low AR rating. Physical damage should be harsh with this set, and the (Superior) Diamond Katana's dragon-slaying power should be the great equalizer to keep this set balanced. Can't take damage from FS, but can die in 2 hits from an SDK. GM Smith/Tinker/Alchemy/Remove Trap to craft. Resources: All different types of dragon leathers, scales, some ingots, and 100 wyrm hearts per piece.
Ophidian Studded Leather (6 piece)- Constant health/mana/stamina regeneration (5 hp/mana/stam every 5 seconds). Low-mid AR rating. Dwarven Battle Axe is super effective! GM Tailor/Tinker/Alchemy/Camping to craft. Not sure for resources.
Heaven Platemail (6 piece)- Paralysis (spell and field) and lightning immunity. High AR rating. Hell's Halberd is extra effective. GM Smith/Tinker/Carpenter/Inscription to craft. Not sure for resources.
Elemental Platemail (6 piece)- +25 each stat. Mid-high AR rating. Dwarven War Hammer counters it. GM Smith/Tinker/Cooking/Camping to craft. Resources: 1 element of air, 1 element of fire, 1 element of water, 1 element of earth (new rare elemental drops?) per piece?
I know, I know... That's a lot of shit. Do I expect it all to happen? No. Do I expect any of it to happen? I sure hope so.
Hope you GM's see some of these ideas as relevant. More importantly, players; please state your opinions, feedback, ideas, etc.
Edit: The list continues
Tournies- There should be regular, schedueled 1v1 and 2v2 tournies for Rank Points.
Faction System- Order and Chaos players need to have some reason to fight eachother. If we place great rewards or high benefits upon faction warfare, we effectively create an incentive for people to start going Order, getting together, and hunting the overwhelming Chaos population. Here is my idea:
Faction Rank System- There should be a PvP rank system based off of points which you accumulate by winning tournies/challenging other players for rank points, possibly at a designated location (Brawler's society?). Tournies would be the ONLY place where these points are generated/earned, and there is a cap of 100. Perhaps 2 points earned for winning a 1v1, 1 point for second place in a 1v1. For 2v2, 1 point per player of the winning team. They can be passed around from player to player by challenging a player of the opposite faction to a duel, betting with Rank Points. Consented duels should not be the only way to get them from players, Heads should be exchangeable for these points. If you turn in somebody's head, you should get 25% of their Rank Points from them. There could be 5 ranks, each rank giving a cumulative bonus. The neutral and guildless can accumulate these points and gain rank as well, but the bonuses will be muted since this is a faction incentive system.
5-25 Points- Private. +1 each stat, 5% discount at town vendors. "Private Lord Makaveli"
26-50 Points- Corporal. +10 mace/fencing/swords/archery, 5% discount at town vendors. "Corporal Lord Makaveli"
51-75 Points- Sergeant. +2 each stat, 5% discount at town vendors. "Sergeant Lord Makaveli"
76-99 Points- Marshall. +1 each stat, 2 mana/sec constant regen, 5% discount at town vendors. "Marshall Lord Makaveli"
100 Points- Warlord. +1 each stat, 2 hp/sec constant regen, 5% discount at town vendors. "Warlod Lord Makaveli"
We could even add "Control Points" for towns as a guild-level competitive system. Guilds can participate in a rolling control battle over certain (unguarded) towns, control of the town gives 25% discount at town vendors.
CTF style: If the town is uncontrolled, 5 guys from the same guild must double click and stay within proximity of some beacon for x minutes uncontested to capture it. If any other guild's member is within proximity, the timer pauses. If any other guild's member is able to double click the beacon from 1 tile away, the town becomes uncontrolled again.
If the town is controlled, 5 opposing guildmates must must double click the beacon to begin an x minute neutralization process, and then once neutralized all double click it again to begin capturing the town. If any guild member from the current occupant guild is within proximity, the neutralization timer pauses. If any occupant guildie double clicks the beacon,the neutralization process is stopped, effectively defending their occupancy.
All of this should be broadcasted