Ideas to improve the server - feel free to post!

[tru]

After doing some of my own research turns out they solved the issue by simply having better servers in strategic areas. Doesn't remove the issue entirely, but mitigates it into irrelevance.

Here is a video of people doing something that should by all accounts be impossible due to damage canceling

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkvdmFdQ8fE

Perhaps something Ultima could look into, if it manages to raise enough donation $$$s.

That's amazing! I don't think Ultima will have any issues with not enough donation $$$ to make this change. Just saying. Thanks for sharing this video.

[Lemon]

That looks pretty cool. I think they would have to buff the monsters again if that happens though.

[Midori]

That looks pretty cool. I think they would have to buff the monsters again if that happens though.

Fix damage cancel and increase the HP of monsters to balance it out. Sounds good to me.

[Drazn]

That looks pretty cool. I think they would have to buff the monsters again if that happens though.

Can't we just get the crack server running again... anymore buffs would be painful for new players : /

[Mozzy123]

I think it would be nice to have at minimum one day a week sometime Friday-Sunday preferably where HH is at a fixed time as I've been playing for 5-6 hours almost everyday for the past 3 weeks and have failed to participate in any of the HH times except for the last 30 minutes of one once, also I've missed like 5 in the past 2 weeks from deciding to go out for a couple hours and getting back to find HH just ended, it really makes it hard to grind for anything.

And I know there's 2 a day sometimes? (I'm still a bit foggy on exactly how many times HH happens a day and for how long, but as I understand it it's twice a day for 3 hours each time) but the second one seems to almost always happen from 2-6am my time which means I'm in bed and the the other well I thought it usually happened around 12pm my time but for 5 days in a row I made sure to be on from 12-4pm my time and no HH.

So yeah I just think it would be nice if at least one day a week HH is at a fixed time, preferably on the weekend so if people have to work they don't miss it (unless you work weekends...sorry), and that way if It they don't make it to that HH there's nothing to complain about since they knew it would be at such and such a time on such and such a day.

[Fyrewolf5]

Damage cancel is yet another reason why this game favors solo over multiplayer. If we could get that fixed, it would help make multiplayer not as horrible.

Damage Cancel actually makes you think about how best to help out your team, it makes (serious) people try to focus different monsters and worry about positioning and targeting, rather than just spam the strongest thing you have blindly at all monsters in the room *cough dark meteor cough* . Not saying dmc is a good thing, but it doesn't make solo favored over multiplayer, it can help make people better at being actual team players that work to complement one another, instead of trying to overload on a single task.

Fix damage cancel and increase the HP of monsters to balance it out. Sounds good to me.

If you actually seriously think techs are weak and want to make this stronger (lol), then you should know this would be a terrible idea for that.

[Midori]

Of course damage cancel is one of the reasons why the game favors solo over multiplayer. Instead of people working together to defeat the enemies, they have to split up as much as possible instead. I'd prefer if we could use teamwork on the same enemies, instead of having to seek out different ones. The way multiplayer works right now is to "solo" as much as possible in the same party. If damage cancel didn't exist, in addition to being able to split up, we would have the added option of attacking the same enemies together, instead of always stepping on each others toes. If I'm attacking an enemy or a group of enemies, and one of my allies starts to attack them too, I think, "Ugh, now it's gonna take longer to kill them." and that's pretty fucked up.

The majority of players don't have enough knowledge/skill to work around damage cancel enough to benefit me to play with them. I want to be able to play with unskilled players too, and not be punished for doing it. I like helping other players get stronger, but it's discouraging how the game treats me whenever I try it.

If we fixed damage cancel and increased monster HP to compensate, the game would favor multiplayer more, which is what I'd like to see. However it's done, I want the game to favor multiplayer over solo.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to solo with 6 accounts. I'm not even joking.

[mudkipzjm]

I mean dmc is of course due to sega's shitty coding skills and can be kind of annoying to deal with, but I don't think it necessarily makes playing by yourself more favorable. Am I going to hunt stuff like c/battle, sta, and pgf by myself? Of course I am. I don't want to have to deal with possible ninjas, and I can't really be arsed to get people to hunt with me. Do I want to hunt by myself? No. Even with dmc and shit included, it's still faster to have people hunt/play with you. Just in my case, those people have to be people I trust. I have to agree with Saith on that argument.

Edited April 1, 2016 by mudkipzjm

[Fyrewolf5]

Of course damage cancel is one of the reasons why the game favors solo over multiplayer. Instead of people working together to defeat the enemies, they have to split up as much as possible instead. I'd prefer if we could use teamwork on the same enemies, instead of having to seek out different ones. The way multiplayer works right now is to "solo" as much as possible in the same party. If damage cancel didn't exist, in addition to being able to split up, we would have the added option of attacking the same enemies together, instead of always stepping on each others toes. If I'm attacking an enemy or a group of enemies, and one of my allies starts to attack them too, I think, "Ugh, now it's gonna take longer to kill them." and that's pretty fucked up.

The majority of players don't have enough knowledge/skill to work around damage cancel enough to benefit me to play with them. I want to be able to play with unskilled players too, and not be punished for doing it. I like helping other players get stronger, but it's discouraging how the game treats me whenever I try it.

If we fixed damage cancel and increased monster HP to compensate, the game would favor multiplayer more, which is what I'd like to see. However it's done, I want the game to favor multiplayer over solo.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to solo with 6 accounts. I'm not even joking.

If a group of players decide, "hey, you take the one on the left, I'll get the one on the right, other guy you CC the guys behind us", that's not "'solo' as much as possible in the same party". That's the exact opposite of solo, it's teamwork.

With "the added option of attacking the same enemies together", that is overloading too much on a single task, that actually is "'solo' as much as possible in the same party".

Also, when your first thought of another player attacking the same monster as you is "'Ugh, now it's gonna take longer to kill them.' ... The majority of players don't have enough knowledge/skill to work around damage cancel enough to benefit me to play with them.", that says alot about your style of play. That attitude is incredibly solo-minded, thinking only of your own benefit and how you want to do things, and screw the other people that want to do something that messes with that.

Teamwork doesn't start at other people, it starts with you. You have to work at doing things that complement what others are doing, it doesn't matter if it doesn't "benefit" you specifically; spending the time to cast an anti instead of attacking isn't about benefiting you, it's about benefiting your team. Being a team player means thinking not about what you want to do, but what you can do that is best for your team. There is always something that you can change about your own play to improve the teamplay.

Ask not what your team can do for you, ask what you can do for your team.

[ryukin]

If a group of players decide, "hey, you take the one on the left, I'll get the one on the right, other guy you CC the guys behind us", that's not "'solo' as much as possible in the same party". That's the exact opposite of solo, it's teamwork.

With "the added option of attacking the same enemies together", that is overloading too much on a single task, that actually is "'solo' as much as possible in the same party".

Also, when your first thought of another player attacking the same monster as you is "'Ugh, now it's gonna take longer to kill them.' ... The majority of players don't have enough knowledge/skill to work around damage cancel enough to benefit me to play with them.", that says alot about your style of play. That attitude is incredibly solo-minded, thinking only of your own benefit and how you want to do things, and screw the other people that want to do something that messes with that.

Teamwork doesn't start at other people, it starts with you. You have to work at doing things that complement what others are doing, it doesn't matter if it doesn't "benefit" you specifically; spending the time to cast an anti instead of attacking isn't about benefiting you, it's about benefiting your team. Being a team player means thinking not about what you want to do, but what you can do that is best for your team. There is always something that you can change about your own play to improve the teamplay.

Ask not what your team can do for you, ask what you can do for your team.

This post just made me rejoin the military with its teamwork pep talk.

[Midori]

If a group of players decide, "hey, you take the one on the left, I'll get the one on the right, other guy you CC the guys behind us", that's not "'solo' as much as possible in the same party". That's the exact opposite of solo, it's teamwork.

With "the added option of attacking the same enemies together", that is overloading too much on a single task, that actually is "'solo' as much as possible in the same party".

Also, when your first thought of another player attacking the same monster as you is "'Ugh, now it's gonna take longer to kill them.' ... The majority of players don't have enough knowledge/skill to work around damage cancel enough to benefit me to play with them.", that says alot about your style of play. That attitude is incredibly solo-minded, thinking only of your own benefit and how you want to do things, and screw the other people that want to do something that messes with that.

Teamwork doesn't start at other people, it starts with you. You have to work at doing things that complement what others are doing, it doesn't matter if it doesn't "benefit" you specifically; spending the time to cast an anti instead of attacking isn't about benefiting you, it's about benefiting your team. Being a team player means thinking not about what you want to do, but what you can do that is best for your team. There is always something that you can change about your own play to improve the teamplay.

Ask not what your team can do for you, ask what you can do for your team.

I am the type of player who plays the game the best way based on its own rules. The way the game currently works is flat out terrible for multiplayer for many reasons. I want the game to favor multiplayer because I prefer playing multiplayer over solo. But just because I think the game should favor multiplayer, doesn't mean that I will ignore the fact that it favors solo. I talk about how things actually are, good or bad. Don't shoot the messenger. It's true that the majority of players only slow me down. I don't like that. That doesn't make me an asshole. It's not the fault of the players; it's bad game design. Even most extremely good players will still do more harm than good, because of how the game works. There are solutions to these problems that I'd like to see happen. I don't like being punished for wanting to play with others in an online game.

And when it comes to actually playing with others, I am very team oriented. I try to do what is best for the team to help us clear the quest as efficient and quickly as possible. If it's better to use anti on someone instead of attacking, then I will use anti. I will cast zalure when it will help us clear faster and not cast it when it's not needed.

I think that multiplayer should benefit everyone. I want a strong player and a weak player to play together and both help each other. But according to you, thinking that makes me selfish. I want true teamwork that benefits everyone.

A few differences between the official server and Ultima that make the game favor solo over multiplayer even more:

- being able to run up to 6 clients on one PC, and be able to control them all at the same time with one controller

- no monthly fee, so you can easily make and keep as many accounts as you want for free

- being able to change the room's section ID during a quest by having one account leave

By the way, I hate using sword and guns too. The reason I play FOnewearl is because I love using magic in video games and I wanted to specialize in using magic only. That worked great on the official server but here on Ultima, even FOnewearl needs to melee a lot of the time. So even though I would prefer to use techs, I have started to work on improving my melee because that's how the game works. Just like how I would prefer to play multiplayer, but since the game heavily favors solo, I solo. I play the game based on how it is, not on how I want it to be.

You know who is actually selfish and doesn't care about other players? The people who think it's great that the game favors solo and want it to stay that way. That's not me at all. I care more about multiplayer and teamwork than you, by far.

[ryukin]

Maybe levels 1-90 or 1-110 have 5x exp, and 90-160 or 110-160 x3 and 160+ 2x? Spoiled thought I know, but it's more of for others to get into playing the game so they don't lose interest.

[mugichan]

As I'm a little late, I'll propose this for the future:

A 1. April Drop from any Rappy in any episode and difficulty. 1 or 2 good Items hide between Tons of April Fool's items. They're wrapped in Christmas Presents and open immediately when you pick them up.

Some of the "rewards" that could affect the picker or the whole room :

Uncurable j/z up to two minutes.

Confusion

Paralysis

TP-Bar gets empty

Traps are disabled for x minutes

Fluid/Mate are set to 0

Drop is an Antidote/Monofluid etc.

Anything else

Of course there need to be 1 or 2 good items hidden in any difficulty making it worth going through such a pain ;-)

Edit: I guess this would mean a lot of work for GMs. Maybe a bit exaggerated for just 1. April

Edited April 1, 2016 by mugichan

[Drazn]

Regardless of whether you think the game favors multiplayer or singleplayer that frankly doesn't matter.

Damage Canceling is a bug. It is not how the game is intended to operate. For this reason alone it should be fixed.

You can argue the virtues of the fact it promotes team-play but the fact remains that damage canceling is a completely unintuitive and nonsensical bug that tricks newer players into stepping on the toes of more experienced ones, punishing them for actually trying to play the game.

It also encourages passivity and an attitude of "well if you don't do the absolute best damage you shouldn't be trying to do damage at all" which destroy's class diversity and centralizes power into a few select min-maxed classes (Like HUcast and RAcast for example.) You can argue Ultima has done much to promote class diversity by introducing new items and weapons, but thats just working around what the problem was in the first place.

As a game mechanic frankly, its boring. It means as certain classes all you do is apply status effects and stand around waiting for things to be killed for you. Some people may enjoy playing like that, and power to them. But there is no other way to play for classes with poor per-hit damage which is restrictive and completely ignores the wide class diversity and flexibility present in PSO's class system. At no point should any game mechanic ever un-ironically promote that doing absolutely nothing is the best strategy. Ever. Its bad game design, people like games because they get to have agency, they get to do stuff. Not wait around and wait for other people to do stuff for them.

And even with the bug fixed all the exact same teamwork scenarios will still work. The only difference is that suddenly you have more options when making those strategies.

Either way, improving server structure is one way to mitigate this issue. But it would still be interesting if we could have a complete solution via code, as even with the best servers and the lowest ping, damage cancel will still exist it will just be much harder to trigger.

Edited April 1, 2016 by Drazn

[mudkipzjm]

Regardless of whether you think the game favors multiplayer or singleplayer that frankly doesn't matter.

Damage Canceling is a bug. It is not how the game is intended to operate. For this reason alone it should be fixed.

Not exactly sure it could be fixed without getting into the source code. Soly could probably correct me if I'm wrong. But if that's true, then I'm not sure if much can be done about it.