What should be the next Mega Post?

What aspect of the game do you want another mega update about? I modeled the poll choices after the major forum areas. You can further clarify your position in the comments below.

 

Don't forget about the stretch goals when making your choice!

$1.1M: Pet System!

• One word... Pets! Both social and combat pets will be added to the game, which players can control using simple commands!

$1.2M: Seasonal Weather!

• Grab your cloak! We're adding game-changing weather to the game.

$1.3M: Interactive Music Instruments!

• Unleash your inner Bard! We will be adding interactive pianos, harps, lutes, flutes, and drums!

$1.4M: Taming!

• We will expand our pet system to allow the player to tame certain Monsters to act as pets.

$1.5M: Content is King + Iolo + Spoony interviews Richard

• Denis Loubet Cover art! (Denis made every Ultima cover except Ultima 2)
• New David “Iolo” Watson musical composition! (Iolo created “Stones” for Ultima!)
• Noah “Spoony” Antwiler interviews (roasts?) Richard “Lord British” Garriott
• 20 additional unique scenes including arctic scene sets
• Starting continent doubles in size

$1.6M: Shipping Lanes Open for business + New Island Content Set + Soundtrack

• New “Mysterious Island” content, city, and scenes
• Ports with boats that run on schedules to transport players to areas beyond the mainland; Safety not guaranteed! (In short, be prepared to defend your vessel!)
• Trans-Atlantic shipping lanes open the way for localization to other languages (languages for consideration based on player support: German, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, etc.)

$1.7M: Dynamic and Contested Resource Nodes + Optional Minimap System

• Meteorites, volcanic eruptions, outbreaks of rare plants and animals can appear and vanish suddenly (online and offline) for those who are paying attention. Some PVP focused resources appear in tile
• Optional minimap system for the directionally impaired!
• The Lost Vale - A new mini-adventure centered around a lost valley previously hidden to players, now visible only during special astronomical alignments.

$1.8M: Tracy Hickman Novel + Catacombs + Apprentice System + Cloaks!

• Serialized novel by Tracy Hickman as a prequel to the SotA storyline, distributed in digital form for all pledge tiers, and printed versions for higher pledges.
• Massive, interconnected underworld with a story and ecology all its own.
• Apprentice system allows players with “Master” level skills to help lower skill players advance more quickly.
• Cloaks with full cloth simulation including being affected by wind.

$1.9M: The World is a Stage!

• A new City Center Theater building
• Rentable by an individual or group for a performance
• Only approved individuals may enter backstage or on stage
• Players must pay to enter seating areas
• Viewers may only emote, such as claps (claps are tracked to “rate” the performance)
• Money goes to performers for their performance
• Also useable for weddings and other community events!
• We add a full complement of “masks” and “costumes” for use at various events.

$2M: Players Take over the World!!!

• Castles & Keeps effectively a new “Town Type”, where the structure is ownable by players or guilds
• Guilds can declare war against other guilds
• Guilds can declare as full time PVP
• Guilds can earn a guild house and guild bank
• Guild Tabbard/Shield/Flags useable by all members
• Minimum of 5 castle types added to the game
• Castle merchants with unique merchandise
• Castle defense scenarios for most castles which can be played offline as well as online

The $2.25M and $2.5M stretch goals have been dropped for the time being.

 

I chose "Other"
I want to know all the ins and outs, the depth and scope, of all the emotes and how they will be animated. I also want to know what we can look forward to, and work for, when it comes to emotes.
/diva

Otherwise, how the PvP-combat system will work, but in regards to that, I will be patient and await a complete explaination when the devs are ready to devulge the information.

 

Not so much a "mega" post, but I would love for them to share a definitive schedule around all of the above listed items. I'm assuming not all will make it for Episode 1 and would love to know what's on the plate (for now, at least).

I've always enjoyed Taming and would love more detailed info about pets, how many, how are they controlled, where do we get to keep them? Are they locally accessible only? What happens when they die (bonding, in UO)?

 

PvPlz

 

I want to know about the subterfuge tree!

 

Judging by the demand/debate on these forums it has to be PVP, plain and simple

 

It would be great to get more details on crafting but that was sort of the subject the recently posted mega post. When I say details I mean, more about how it works. I'm fairly satisfied with housing and combat (for now), so I voted for items & economy as it still feels like a bit of an unknown. RG has given hints that things will be in the right direction but more details would be great, especially with regards to vendors and player-to-player trading.

 

Considering how violent the combat megapost ended up, what makes anyone think a PvP megapost won't be 10x worse?

 

Hm, I still have a lot of questions. But at the moment I'd likte to hear more about the beginning of the game:

Where do we start?
Are there fix points, where we arrive on New Britannia?
Will we be able to choose our starting point or do we get somewhere at random?
How will we get our first quests?
Is there some kind of epic storyline and where does it start?
Is this storyline straight forward (like in Ultima 7) or do we get the chance to change the tide of events?

Do we all have to get to the city of New Britannia, to get the main quest from Lord British or are there other ways?
Are there areas for beginners and others for more advanced players?
Or does the matching system set the difficulty according to your skills?
Is there some kind of Tutorial?
Lord British said, players need to be convinced in the first 10 minutes, that a game is awesome. How can this be achieved?
Are there big random events on the overworld map?
Is there some kind of gating? (can you PvP directly at the beginning? can you get to each point of the map or are there level barriers or tougher monsters, that will prevent you from getting there? are there minimum levels for specific quests? etc.)
For single player, how many NPC companions can we take with us (only one companion, a small group of 4 or even more?)? Can we equip them and give them orders? will they behave like humans (talk to us, have a personality) or do the just follow orders?
Do all players see the same overworld map? Or are there othere NPCs, events, monsters, etc. for each player and they meet through quests, events, etc.?

 

Indeed.

I honestly doubt any PvP mega post will have enough detail to put to rest any of the issues that have caused heated debate here on these forums. It will likely raise more questions than it answers. Just look at the Combat and Crafting Mega Posts. They're but teasers to an overall framework, which explains the 20-40 pages of discussion that followed. We're still waiting for this rumored Combat Mega Reply.

 

Economy.

 

Now here's a good idea. What are we going to do about inflation anyway?

 

Without a stable economic plan the rest of the game is kind of moot.

 

Economy.
We also need some serious answers on how multi Plot & House ownership will impact on the economy, and the serious effects it will have on attracting new players after release in 2014 if land becomes an expensive attribute from players holding multi plots and expect at least 100% profit on what they have paid for it. One player one Plot is the only option or will RG be creating new housing areas on a regular basis if so this will just create empty villages/Towns were multi plots are held.

 

I want details to combat and crafting. How will it work?

 

You need to dig through the old threads as this has already been discussed, almost ad nauseum. Not sure where you got your "facts" from either: expect a 100% profit? That's insane to even assert that, or that "one player one plot" is the only way. Come back to reality for just a moment. RG has clearly explained his thoughts on housing. Housing is limited and was given as a perk for people to pledge a lot of dollars towards a project which was little more than a promise of a dream.

One player one plot was relaxed because it came to light that a few players had created alts in order to acquire more than one plot. Taking punitive measures against these people wasn't deemed to be wise, nor was it deemed to be wise to punish productive players. If players earn two plots in game then it was deemed allowable. With all assets come liabilities, and hence risk. Adding melodrama about how one player will corner the market and punished everyone else and ruin the game and farm gold and sell it for billions and then kill the dragon and make even more billions and then run for president of the world and destroy that too because Richard Garriot didn't listen and now everything is all messed up and stuff and such like. True dat.

 

Speaking of melodrama, I own 13 plots, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who is ready to tank the housing market for personal gain. Come visit my town, Kingsport, and if I like you, maybe I'll sell you one of the houses there.

 

You sir, are either the master of sarcasm the likes of which I cannot detect or a rather enviable property baron. Yikes that's quite a position you have!

When you say tank... ummm... I need that in simpleton English. Tanking would suggest going down. I'm guessing you want to hawk those 13 properites for a 31459% profit though.

 

Which could it be?

I'm really just trying to make the point that wagram is on to something. That's not to say that you aren't 100% correct about how this has been addressed thus far, but I do worry about the power one might gain from holding on to many plots and flipping them after their price sky rockets (which I suspect it will due to the extremely limited nature of housing). That said, I don't see any way to stop people from owning multiple houses, so afaik, Portalarium has their hands tied.