Why can’t we cross-pollinate the plants?
"The plan had been to allow cross-pollination but, after looking into it, a number of factors made me decide against it. First, drafting the right cross-pollination chart for this many new plants would require a significant amount of time. But assuming we had delayed publishing these additions to draft that chart, we would then meet issue #2: Art. I actually took a stab at the chart, but aside from a handful of the new plants, there is no possible logical correlation between the existing plants and the new ones. By no stretch of the imagination would combining an existing plant to one of the new seeds result in another one of the new plants. In order to get that 5th generation, new art would be required which isn’t possible at the current time."
Why not make them a separate set of plants that can cross-pollinate within that set?
"This was a valid suggestion but the issue is the same. Many of the new plants have nothing in common with each other and no cross-pollination chart would make sense. I suspect this was one of the reasons they weren’t added in the first pass to begin with. Again, this is a case of new art required..."
Why don’t the plants self-pollinate to produce seeds?
"This was a design decision. While the code is complex (way more than just telling it new vs. old), it wouldn’t take too much time to allow the plants to produce seeds. However, since these plants cannot cross-pollinate or give resources, if we allow them to produce seeds the market will be flooded with the most desirable plants within 3 to 4 weeks. And in 2 months from now, only a handful of people will bother with the plants anymore and definitely nobody will be hunting the seeds as everyone and their brother will have tons in store already. By limiting their availability and randomizing the drop of the seeds, it will make the most desirable plants rarer and thus more valuable while also expanding the life span of this mini-game."
Rare seeds (bonsai) didn’t retain our attention too long. Why would these be any different?
"From the start, the interest in the bonsai, because of the art type, was doomed to have a limited life span. There was really only 1 new plant (the bonsai) which came in 4 slightly different shapes and colors, all meant mostly as indoor-type décor that you would place on a table. Its small size also didn’t allow for much creativity in use. The seeds for each bonsai were also uniquely labeled so you knew immediately which one of the bonsai you were getting, which isn’t the case with the new plants. Aside from the cocoa tree (fragrant seed), all 15 other plants will have the same seed name (peculiar seed). Most people will have less than 5 bonsai in their houses but will have an insane number of the other bigger decorative plants which can be used to shape original gardens. The new plants are mainly outdoors plants and I can promise you that in most cases, you will want way more than one of each type."
Are you saying I only have 1 chance out of 16 of getting the seed I need?
"Not quite, but each time will indeed be a dice roll. There are 12 different monsters that will spawn the seeds. The plants and monsters have been divided into 4 groups: Monster Group A, B, C and D each count 3 monsters, then we have Plant Group 1 to Plant Group 4 that each contains 4 new plants. All 12 monsters will spawn fragrant seeds, but monsters of Group A will also spawn the peculiar seeds from Plant Group 1, while monsters of Group B will also spawn the peculiar seeds from Plant Group 2 and so on. So basically, when hunting monsters from Group A, you have 1 chance out of 5 of getting a specific plant from Group 1. Ditto for any Monster Group and their matching Plant Group. Note that you will never get a Group 1 seed from a Group B monster, etc."
Which monsters do they drop on and what’s the drop rate?
"You will have to figure out which monsters they spawn on! But I can tell you they will spawn on 3 creatures that dwell in the Tokuno Islands, on 1 bug-type creature, on 1 creature found in Despise (among other places), on 1 swamp creature, on 1 undead, on 1 humanoid spellcaster, on 1 arachnid, on 1 karma sensitive creature in Ilshenar, on 1 a compact-sized creature and last but not least, on 1 creature that lurks in the Twisted Wealds. The drop rate is 50% chance there will be no seed, 15% chance of a fragrant seed and 35% chance of a random peculiar seed."
So now my crafter is forced to hunt?
"You can hunt them yourself or buy your seeds from hunters, except for the Cocoa Tree that will produce seeds and resources. Some of the monsters will be difficult for crafters, but some others will be reasonably accessible to less combat-oriented characters."
Why are we not getting some of the plants we wanted?
"The plants had been selected long before this was ever made public. But despite that, after reading the comments/wishes on the boards, I can assure you that the majority of gardeners will be very pleased with some of the new plants. That said, if you look at the Inside UO art files, you can see that a lot of plants (mainly trees) are in 2 pieces (bare tree, leaves). In order to give you such plants, we would need to make them into a deed or get new art. So for the purpose of gardening, these plants are excluded. Which means, sorry folks, there will be no pine tree.
"
Why are these plants only available in plain colors?
"Because after testing what they would look like rehued same as the colored plants from the original set, I didn’t want to be held responsible for a worldwide eyesore epidemic."
Why are there no additional resources from these new plants aside from the Cocoa Pulp?
"Adding new plants wasn’t in the planning. Could there and should there be new resources? Absolutely! Adding them to the system isn’t overly complex and could possibly happen at some point in time. Some pretty cool ideas were thrown out there on the forums. But this honestly isn’t on the radar at the moment and you guys will understand better what we’re so busy with at the next Town Hall!"
So what are the new plants?
"I’m soooooooo NOT telling you! (yes, I’m a tease
). But seriously, when gardening first came out, the most fun I had was eagerly waiting for my babies to make their entry in the world. Would it be a boy? A girl? Would it look like Mom or Dad? Whose eyes? Hair? You get the drift... The speculation is half the fun!"
Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2008 9:02 pm