For the last 4 years, the basic design and implementation of systems for Heritage has almost solely been around production UO and testing the various systems, as they were be coded for the first time, on ServUO.
We are now at a time in emulation history where we are mostly caught up with production and they are now focusing on a whole new custom shard and leaving the original shards mostly on autopilot.
UO in its current state is a mess of mostly obsolete systems and patchworks of content, produced by multiple development teams over the last 25 years, that never always fit/worked together or was poorly implemented, to begin with. Very little time seems to have been spent going back and accessing the various economical and lack of older content upgrades that the game has needed since the beginning. A lot of systems are abandonware, left to rot in the world. Some rightfully so, as they were poorly implemented, to begin with, while others could use a facelift/challenge.
To keep things feeling fresh, and also different, on Heritage our plan moving forward is not to emulate production UO but to instead forge our own unique legacy.
We are now at a time in emulation history where we are mostly caught up with production and they are now focusing on a whole new custom shard and leaving the original shards mostly on autopilot.
UO in its current state is a mess of mostly obsolete systems and patchworks of content, produced by multiple development teams over the last 25 years, that never always fit/worked together or was poorly implemented, to begin with. Very little time seems to have been spent going back and accessing the various economical and lack of older content upgrades that the game has needed since the beginning. A lot of systems are abandonware, left to rot in the world. Some rightfully so, as they were poorly implemented, to begin with, while others could use a facelift/challenge.
To keep things feeling fresh, and also different, on Heritage our plan moving forward is not to emulate production UO but to instead forge our own unique legacy.
I believe we have the UO experience required to ensure Heritage stands the test of time in regards to being able to provide fresh content while keeping the core elements of UO intact.
The primary focus and concern will always be on these two things:
- Balance
- Using what can already be obtained in the world, we want to limit “power creep” to that as much as possible.
- Loot pack adjustments to even out mobiles that have almost identical stats but drastically different loot packs. (older mobs vs new)
- Trying to keep and improve that balance between the professions and skills, wherever possible.
- Removing some older, unused content, while enhancing others.
- Economy - As the server grows and the total amount of gold in the world increases we will be increasing NPC prices on certain items. As stated before, most of these prices have not changed since they were introduced in 1998-1999, while the methods and ease to farm gold have drastically changed (Examples - bags of sending, loot pack enhancements over the years).
- Introduce more desirable items on NPCs that players will actually want to purchase. Maybe have the NPCs sell exceptional gear with their name tagged for quick imbues on the fly.
Core combat mechanics, spell mechanics, and stats/caps will remain in line with production.
Some changes coming up the quickest:
- NPC prices for various goods have/had already been increased.
- Various basic loot adjustments to even out bosses and named monsters based on their stats/HP.
- Getting basic wilderness spawns fully set up on all facets.
- ML monsters will no longer drop Paragon Chests with treasure maps.
- Instead, all bosses (only about 6 did before) will now have a chance to drop level 5 t-maps.
- All named/harder monsters will now have a chance to drop level 4 t-maps
- Over the next few months, all monsters will eventually have a chance to drop levels 1 - 3 t-maps based on their stats/HP.
- "Monthly" World Bosses.
- Throughout Trammel and Felucca there are various ruins or unused wilderness locations. Soon, once every 30 days some of these locations will start spawning a "World Boss". They will have insanely high HP (NOT meant to be done alone) and will always drop a unique rare. 12 a year, of each type, will spawn.
- Dungeon Chests
- These are still coming. Special chests that can be sought out in various dungeons that will offer resources and unique rewards.
- Felucca Changes.
- Since the beginning, we have handled Felucca differently. IE - Reds can come and hang out with us on all the other facets. That will not be changing. Here are some things that will be changing:
- No more 2x resource bonus.
- Lower wilderness (no random wilderness spawns in T2A) and town spawn levels.
- Various named monsters and some new ones will spawn in unique locations around T2A. Providing specific farming locations to attempt to hold/raid.
- The Terethan Keep will soon be home to a new Felucca champion spawn.
This is only the tip of the iceberg for what is coming. Stay tuned to the patch logs for when official changes start rolling through. I want to do this together and appreciate all constructive feedback and opinions.
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