I can only imagine the massive influx of talentless driveby thieves if this were implemented as written here. Two points on this regardless of the fun to be had if changed; - If Telekinesis functioned on player packs, which I figure it would based on descriptions (ranged double click), the thief playstyle is dramatically altered. A massive buff, but also... removes the need to really ever stalk your mark. - Yes, UO is a game with magic. However, simply because you opened something does not mean you can see inside it. unless you're casting it a second time on your own eyeball that has a Go-Go Gadget optic nerve that you then float over to the container. Or "Far Sight", or, any other method of remote viewing. Anyway, I never knew this was a thing in any era. As for pirating... stop being a pansy and raid. "She looks to be a grand prize'. What pirate ever knew what was in the hold of their target pre-boarding without reliable intel? Tracking. I use it effectively in my own way, I made it work for me. A spy glass that tracks a long distance in a single direction chosen (which would also require a tracking check) seems like a cool idea though... In summary; consider trying to use the tools you have instead of asking for them to be altered to suit your requirements and/or desires
Pirating is somehting that bugged me for a while now, as i once runned a pirate guild on this lovely shard once and didnt touched it since the tracking rework. Here would be some approaches: - Make high sea looting easier (wont happen) - Buff tracking on the sea, so a few individuals can profit from it (wont happen) - Add a "tracking for boats" function on an item (iE the unblessed captains spyglass worth 300k gold to add a risk value for pirates) - Keep tracking looting system as it is and add other functions: - Add a "pirate zone" that enables players to find a new sort of AMIB in the Waters, or something like "a pirate treasure map" that can only be used in "pirate terretory" (Bald Island for example)... basically enable a high risk pirate themed PvM Zone + Rewards in a "restricted" area, and the PvP / Pirating will happen on default. Everyone Profits! For Telekinesis: On corpses, to open them YEAH. On doors, or to check out unlocked Boxes... Absolutely! On players... would be too easy to setup a last target and then just "steal last target", it would remove the need of having "snooping" on your character to be precise and would buff my Steal/Stun factioneer immensly... this would be too OP in my opinion.
Why do you say "won't happen"? What the hell is the purpose of Tracking as it stands now? It is a completely broken skill. This isn't History Perfected. It is History Torn to Pieces. We don't need broken, completely useless skills or spells on this shard. Make both Tracking and Telekinesis era accurate. That is all I ask. I don't need any special favors. On UO Second Age both Tracking and Telekinesis are era accurate. On that server pirating works just fine. All I ask for is HISTORY (i.e., era accuracy) PERFECTED (no more broken and pointless skills and spells).
+1 Captain's Spyglass: Simple to implement, positively promotes a playstyle, no obvious issues mechanically. +1 Pirate Zone: A fair bit of work to implement, introduces and promotes a new area of gameplay, no obvious issues mechanically. I would go even further and have pirates roam the seas from their base of operations as a new mob/group type. Going even further could include bounties for 'wanted' pirates, available via in town message boards similar to other NPC job listings. +1 Telekinesis on corpses/containers: Simple in concept, code may be intrinsically tied to range of target. May also be a simple "if" check. It does promote playstyles people seem to desire. Potential negatives with existing mechanics and synergy do exist, but it's probably fine. -100 Telekinesis on players packs: Simple to implement but breaks existing playstyles and server balance in major ways. -1 Telekinesis on ships hold: I think it's similar to a player pack. I might be wrong. It seems to me that there should be chance and risk when participating in piracy. This would allow someone to weigh up risk vs reward far too easily.
You don't need any telekinesis on player packs. Just on containers. Ship holds should not be openable, but they should be limited to 400 stones. Eliminate item decay on boats.
*nods* I just wanted to clarify when I brought up player packs, as "ranged double click" was used to describe telekinesis. Whats your thoughts behind no item decay on boats? Sounds like a recipe for a trash barge flotilla Additional cons: - Who needs a house when you can just stack endlessly on a boat? - Mining / fishing bot can dump to the boat, which promotes unattended gameplay. Lots of cons beyond those for that idea I think. Maybe I'm missing a valid pro for that? Educate me as to your reasoning! Just so you know, Im not just arguing for the sake of it. Good games need to consider all possibilities before implementing or changing anything, so its good for us to flesh out ideas between ourselves before petitioning staff
I really wish tracking would be fixed... Right now completely useless. Used to be a great will to have - commensurate with having to spend 100 points in it
A house would still be more secure for your items, and more easily accessible, than a boat. Also, you could macro in a house without being killed, whereas macroing on a boat you can be killed. Most importantly, having a huge hold (which cannot be looted) is pure Trammel.
I agree with changing item decay and the ship holds however you're missing a couple of mechanics that would need to tag along. The optimization code that doesn't make the items on the deck visible to anyone unless they're moved while they're on screen or they're on the ship would need to be fixed. Not to mention the ore pile combining mechanic (the pile you target is supposed to move to the source tile, not the opposite which it currently is). @JimmyTheHand the point behind these changes is to make boats less secure than they are now. You'd have to be careful where on the boat you put items as opposed to now where you can just stash everything in your hold until you're ready to clear out. To get back to the initial point of this thread, telekinesis as far as ships worked was that it allowed you to open the corpse of a player you dispatched and if they were foolish enough to have the key in their pack you could recall off of it and voila. This is one of the reasons why a lot of the old sailing guides told you to always dump the key into the hold as it could not be accessed at all unless you were on the ship. Telekinesis did NOT work on live players however (oh look there's your blessed runebook in your pack and you were foolish enough to set your cy rune as default? yoink!) beyond opening up their paperdoll for you in an expensive way
More accessible than a boat you can recall directly on to, next to a container? It's also very possible to be killed inside a house. Unlimited 100% secure hold is indeed very trammel like. Can not someone with a sufficiently devious thieving mindset (not that I know of any) steal a ship key and unlock the hold? @fooka03 Less secure huh, sounds good to me. As for the code regarding visible items on deck; you may have hit the nail on the head with regards to why it is how it is. General server load aside (trash barge), there have definitely been instances in many UO servers, including OSI where items have been intentionally placed en-masse to cause lag. I can already think of a dirty pirate trick involving a couple of boats and a few hundred items on deck all entering a targets screen at once. Funny yes, crappy as hell though. Wait... recall on a key, from range, after using telekinesis? Interesting. Sounds like a big that folks got used to so it stayed So, I see the points being made. However I'm not convinced mechanics should exist identically 'just coz' they did in an era/patch. I have played on servers where they chose to actually implement exploits to ensure 'era-patch' accurate. The result of course; was that those in the know exploited, those who fell victim. So yeah, telekinesis on containers; +1 again. There should be no interaction possible though. (especially not a spell that isnt telekinesis itself and usually requires you to be next to the target like recall). Limit the capacity of ships hold: +1 Remove Item decay on ships: -1 I think it should stay. Even moreso if ships hold gets restricted, as combining decay with limits on capscity encourages trips to town, pack animals, gates to houses, etc. This all classic UO. Moving large amounts of stuff should always be a risk. (I really wanna try telekinesis on a paperdoll pack back in 99/2000 lol )
