2004 UO NEWS AND UPDATE THREAD ! (Latest Post - 17 Dec 2004)

[CitizenKane2]

Posted here - 7th Anniversary Publish - Worldwide Release. Formosa is scheduled to receive the publish on 8:00 am CCT, Friday, June 18 (Downtime of 1-2 hours).

On this thread here, Binky EA confirmed :

<blockquote>I just got final confirmation that the 7AE gifts WILL be blessed on all shards, including Siege and Mugen.</blockquote>

There's an interview with Sunsword - here. Some highlights of the interview :

a) The issue of returning UO players is addressed. No specific plans to help returning UO players beyong making UO fundamentally good. (This is the correct approach, in my opinion)

(b) Recognition that a sizable part of UO susbscribers reside outside UO (especially Japan).

(c) Recongnition that gameplay alone not enough to make UO competitive. While there appears chat options are a "given" (definitely being considered) but the answer about overhauling the graphics engine - particularly the 3D client - was extremely vague. I think at some point in time, the issue about putting in a new graphics engine has to be addressed squarely.

(d) Ebay is .. kinda endorsed.

(e) No pre UOR shard.

 

[CitizenKane2]

For players with chars on Siege. See here about the 7th Anniversary Gifts and Siege :

<blockquote>I just wanted to give you all an update on the status on the 7th Anniversary Edition Gifts on Siege.

Based on your feedback we have determined how to proceed with the 7AE gifts and blessed items in general on Siege.

*At this time you will be able to claim the item of your choice as soon as you get the box.

*The item WILL be blessed for now.

*We plan to address the “Blessed” item issue on Siege/Mugen in Publish 26.

*What does that mean? I will let you know soon. I don’t want to give you erroneous information.


Remember, you do not have to claim your item right away. You can sit on the code and wait until after the pub 26 changes take place.

I hope this helps some.</blockquote>

 

[CitizenKane2]

Not an update but more of a warning - apparently there is an exploit which allows other players to "steal" your equipment in Trammel. Therefore be careful when engaging in trade - especially artifacts.

The thread on UHall is here

 

[CitizenKane2]

Publish 25 information may be found here :

<blockquote>Publish 25, as with most game publishes, contains a number of game updates and bug fixes. This article contains a summary of the upcoming game improvements that will come about with Publish 25. The items listed below are in development and have not passed QA. This is not a guarantee that these changes will make it to publish 25 exactly as listed.

General Summary:

Bug fixes
PvP balance changes
Archery fixes

Contents:

House demolition, and character transfer will now be disabled while the housing and character transfer server is down

Faster casting cap of 2 (if not using the protection spell)

Faster casting cap of 0 (if using the protection spell)

Paladin spells are subject to a faster casting cap of 4

Paladins with magery of 70.0 or above are subject to a faster casting cap of 2

PvP spell damage increase cap of 15% from an item’s magic property – spell damage increase is also derived from intelligence and inscription

Added caps for: Lower Mana Cost = 40%, Hit Chance Increase = 45%, Defense Chance Increase = 45%, Damage Increase = 100%, Swing Speed Increase = 1/second for all weapons.

Maximum swing rate capped at one swing per second

Added runic crafting tools to test center bank boxes

Added all artifacts to test center bank boxes

Added ethereal mounts to test center bank boxes

Added a kills/deaths tracking and leader board on test centers

Painstrike takes 1/2 second less to cast, 2 points higher minimum and maximum damage

Cleanse by fire is now difficulty based

Damage required to interrupt bandaging reduced from 26 to 19 for PvP only

Lesser and normal healing potions have smaller delays to use than greater healing potions

Lowered cure spell chance of success

Enhanced cure potions now correctly cure lower poisons

Archcure doesn't cure aggressors or victims

Archcure is now 1/4 second faster

Infectious strike special move now uses poisoning skill to help determine potency

Using a special move within 3 seconds of the previous special move costs double mana
Parried special moves have no mana cost

Dexterity below 80 reduces the chance to parry

Reveal uses magery and detect hidden vs. hide and stealth

Reveal always reveals vs. invisibility spell

Tracking players uses tracking and detect hidden and random (1 to 20) vs. hiding and stealth

Ghosts can no longer be tracked

Necromancy forms affect tracking difficulty

Archers can now move immediately after firing

Archers must hold still for a minimum of 1/2 second before firing

Fixed Dryad bow and added it to the Doom boss loot

Fix for daemon, lich, vampire, and wraith form issues

Fix for enemy of one issues

Fix for divine fury issues (stat penalties, faction points, etc)

Two handed weapons can now be disarmed

Can no longer immediately rearm disarmed mage weapons

Faction traps now decay after one day

Swamp dragons no longer reduce PvP damage

Spell casting creatures no longer try to cast old buffs (reactive armor, protection, magic reflection) resulting in more challenging monsters

Fixed low level gain for weapon skills

Sake is now called "sake" instead of "water" on Japanese shards

Added jewelry slots in 2D client

Added "object handles" in 2D client

Misc. "behind the scenes" changes:
Improved internal debugging tools
More logging for "IGR time limit" error </blockquote>

See also this thread on UHall here

 

[CitizenKane2]

Posted here on Sigil Purple Items :

<blockquote>Greetings,

It appears that the word travels much faster than I originally anticipated. During a policy discussion a few days ago we determined that faction sigil purple items would be now legal to buy, sell and own. This decision was made simply because these items can now be made without the use of an exploit. Because no exploit is involved we no longer saw the need to police these items. We are currently in the process of updating all our documents regarding these items and we appreciate your patience while we do so.

I apologize I was unable to get this word out to all of you prior to the GMs enforcing this new policy.

Thank you,

Platinum
Customer Service Manager
EA Customer Support</blockquote>

 

[CitizenKane2]

According to Fertbert here, publish 25 is coming out soon :

<blockquote>Speaking of publishes, the publish 25 client patch is due out soon... in fact it should be out in the next day or two... which is just two weeks from the last client publish. And the publish 26 client should follow 2-3 weeks after that....</blockquote>

 

[CitizenKane2]

Some news.

(1) First, development for UXO has been cancelled. See here :

<blockquote>Today, the decision was made to discontinue the production of Ultima X: Odyssey. This was done in order focus resources and talent on Ultima Online, the upcoming expansion, and an unannounced Ultima Online project.

“With Ultima Online thriving, and with plans for its future taking shape, we made the decision to focus all our resources on that game world,” said Anthony Castoro, producer of Ultima Online. “We look forward to making more exciting announcements about Ultima Online very soon.”</blockquote>

See also here for the annoucement on the official UXO website.

(2) Next, client patch 4.0.3c has been released. See here. What has been added for the 2D client are jewellry slots and object handles. On object handles, Fertbert posted here :

<blockquote>When you're playing, hold down the Control and Shift keys to display the object handles for NPCs, players and objects on the ground. You can use them as you would a normal object (drag them, double click them, etc), but they're actually gumps so you can right click them to close them (i.e. if several are stacked on top of each other). They disappear when you release the Control or Shift key.

Enjoy!

speedman
Ultima Online Server Programmer
Origin Systems/Electronic Arts</blockquote>

 

[CitizenKane2]

Posted here on UHall - here - Contest to Name New City in Next UO Expansion. The link (in Japanese) is here

 

[CitizenKane2]

In a nutshell - Publish 25 will be released on Catskill on 12 July 2004 (USA time) and the rest of the shards tomorrow (13 July 2004, USA time) if there are no show stopping issues. See here :

<blockquote>We will be publishing the Catskills shard with the Publish 25 code today, July 12th, 2004 at approximately 12:30PM PST. Publish 25 contains the following changes:

General Summary:
Bug fixes
PvP balance changes
Archery fixes

Contents:

House demolition, and character transfer will now be disabled while the housing and character transfer server is down

Faster casting cap of 2 (if not using the protection spell)

Faster casting cap of 0 (if using the protection spell)

Paladin spells are subject to a faster casting cap of 4

Paladins with magery of 70.0 or above are subject to a faster casting cap of 2

PvP spell damage increase cap of 15% from an item’s magic property – spell damage increase is also derived from intelligence and inscription

Added caps for: Lower Mana Cost = 40%, Hit Chance Increase = 45%, Defense Chance Increase = 45%, Damage Increase = 100%.

Maximum swing rate capped at one swing per second

Added runic crafting tools to test center bank boxes

Added all artifacts to test center bank boxes

Added ethereal mounts to test center bank boxes

Added a kills/deaths tracking and leader board on test centers

Painstrike takes 1/2 second less to cast, 2 points higher minimum and maximum damage

Cleanse by fire is now difficulty based

Damage required to interrupt bandaging reduced from 26 to 19 for PvP only

Lesser and normal healing potions have smaller delays to use than greater healing potions

Lowered cure spell chance of success

Enhanced cure potions now correctly cure lower poisons

Archcure doesn't cure aggressors or victims

Archcure is now 1/4 second faster

Infectious strike special move now uses poisoning skill to help determine potency

Using a special move within 3 seconds of the previous special move costs double mana

Parried special moves have no mana cost

Dexterity below 80 reduces the chance to parry

Reveal uses magery and detect hidden vs. hide and stealth

Reveal always reveals vs. invisibility spell

Tracking players uses tracking and detect hidden and random (1 to 20) vs. hiding and stealth

Ghosts can no longer be tracked

Necromancy forms affect tracking difficulty

Archers can now move immediately after firing

Archers must hold still for a minimum of 1/2 second before firing

Fixed Dryad bow and added it to the Doom boss loot

Fix for enemy of one issues

Fix for divine fury issues (stat penalties, faction points, etc)

Two handed weapons can now be disarmed

Can no longer immediately rearm disarmed mage weapons

Faction traps now decay after one day

Swamp dragons no longer reduce PvP damage

Spell casting creatures no longer try to cast old buffs (reactive armor, protection, magic reflection) resulting in more challenging monsters

Fixed low level gain for weapon skills

Fixed low level gain for Parry

Sake is now called "sake" instead of "water" on Japanese shards

Added jewelry slots in 2D client

Added "object handles" in 2D client

Misc. "behind the scenes" changes:
Improved internal debugging tools
More logging for "IGR time limit" error

If there are no show stopping issues we will deploy Publish 25 to the remaining servers tomorrow, July 13th, 2004.</blockquote>

 

[CitizenKane2]

Quick Notes :

(1) Housing and Character Transfer Downtime - here :

<blockquote>The Housing server and Character Transfer service will be unavailable from 12:00PM PDT (7:00PM GMT) to 1:30PM PDT (8:30PM GMT) on July 14th, 2004 due to a scheduled OS upgrade.</blockquote>

(2) Publish 25 Schedule - here, including :

<blockquote>Japanese Shards (Asuka, Hokuto, Izumo, Mizuho, Mugen, Sakura, Wakoku, Yamato): Downtime of about 1.5 to 2 hour2. 4:00 PM PST, Tuesday, July 13

Southeast Asia Shards (Arirang, Balhae, Formosa): Downtime of about 1/5 to 2 hours. 5:00 PM PST, Tuesday, July 13</blockquote>

(3)On the problem with luck being capped at 250 when Publish 25 was released to Catskill yesterday, Ferbert said here :

<blockquote>Luck was incorrectly capped at 250 on Catskills, it has been corrected in the code we're publishing today. Luck is capped at 1200.

Cheers,
Fertbert</blockquote>

 

[CitizenKane2]

Not really an update but more of a warning.

Be cautious when partying strangers in Trammel - or at least set your party mode to "party cannot loot me" if you don't trust the players in your party.

See this post in UHall - here Craftsmen and mules be especially careful if a stranger invites you to be in a "party".

 

[CitizenKane2]

Another warning - Sigil Purple Hued Items - see this thread here

If you are buying (or even selling) sigil hued items, according to that thread, EA may be taking action in the future to deal with them (perhaps by rehuing them). If anyone has confirmation about this, please let me know.

 

[CitizenKane2]

Quick Notes.

Posted HERE, some possible upcoming changes to Publish 26 :

<blockquote>TC1 Pub 26 Test should have the following fixes/enhancements

* Firehorn enhancements
* Serpent Pillars activated (for test centers only for now to ensure stability)
* Nonbardable creatures should now be bardable (such as orc brutes, juka lords, meers, etc.)
* Loot changes for monsters, dungeon chests, treasure hunters, fisherman, etc.
* Fixed 0 hiding tracking bug
* Ant Lions should spawn adventurer's skeletons
* Plague Beasts should spawn metal chests

There may be more, but those are things I've specifically worked on. Advanced spawner debut for Ilshenar is still in development.

Hop on the Test Center and let us know what you think.

Thanks and have a great weekend everyone!

- Leurocian
Designer, Ultima Online Live</blockquote>

Already posted on General News section of UO Stratics :

1. 120 stealing bug being investigated.

2. Minimum intensities for treasure chests and fisherman loot being bumped up (max intensity to remain at 100%). This is fairly good summary :

<blockquote>I also want to give an update on what we're proposing to adjust.

1. Gold has been rescaled, bumped up for the higher end critters, and has also been adjusted for creatures that needed adjustment (e.g., Solen Queens should now yield better loot than the warriors/infiltrators, crystal elementals got a boost, as well as bog things, enslaved gargoyles and the fire gargoyles, rotting corpses, etc.)

2. Min and Max intensities were adjusted in the loot tables for non-boss higher end critters. There were a lot of cases where nothing was the result. This has been adjusted as well.

3. Dungeon Chest loot has been bumped up as well. Adjusted min and max intensities, gold, and # items.

I tested Plague Beasts, and they appear to grow in power just fine when provoked. They gain hit points, and they gain loot, so I'm not sure what's wrong with them. Their AI doesn't appear to have changed since I last engaged them in combat with my bard, unless their AI was recently fixed internally.</blockquote>

 

[CitizenKane2]

Quick Notes.

Posted HERE, some possible upcoming changes to Publish 26 :

<blockquote>TC1 Pub 26 Test should have the following fixes/enhancements

* Firehorn enhancements
* Serpent Pillars activated (for test centers only for now to ensure stability)
* Nonbardable creatures should now be bardable (such as orc brutes, juka lords, meers, etc.)
* Loot changes for monsters, dungeon chests, treasure hunters, fisherman, etc.
* Fixed 0 hiding tracking bug
* Ant Lions should spawn adventurer's skeletons
* Plague Beasts should spawn metal chests

There may be more, but those are things I've specifically worked on. Advanced spawner debut for Ilshenar is still in development.

Hop on the Test Center and let us know what you think.

Thanks and have a great weekend everyone!

- Leurocian
Designer, Ultima Online Live</blockquote>

Already posted on General News section of UO Stratics :

1. 120 stealing bug being investigated.

2. Minimum intensities for treasure chests and fisherman loot being bumped up (max intensity to remain at 100%). This is fairly good summary :

<blockquote>I also want to give an update on what we're proposing to adjust.

1. Gold has been rescaled, bumped up for the higher end critters, and has also been adjusted for creatures that needed adjustment (e.g., Solen Queens should now yield better loot than the warriors/infiltrators, crystal elementals got a boost, as well as bog things, enslaved gargoyles and the fire gargoyles, rotting corpses, etc.)

2. Min and Max intensities were adjusted in the loot tables for non-boss higher end critters. There were a lot of cases where nothing was the result. This has been adjusted as well.

3. Dungeon Chest loot has been bumped up as well. Adjusted min and max intensities, gold, and # items.

I tested Plague Beasts, and they appear to grow in power just fine when provoked. They gain hit points, and they gain loot, so I'm not sure what's wrong with them. Their AI doesn't appear to have changed since I last engaged them in combat with my bard, unless their AI was recently fixed internally.</blockquote>

 

[CitizenKane2]

Posted on uo.com and the General News section of UO Stratics - TELL US WHAT YOU WANT!

<blockquote>Remember how we gave you a Hooded Shroud of Shadows when pre-ordered Age of Shadows? We want to give you something just as cool for pre-ordering Samurai Empire, so we thought we’d ask what you’d like.

Please take a few minutes and send an email to the player Feedback mailbox telling us what items, content, or special features you might want as a special reward for pre-ordering Ultima Online Samurai Empire.

This in-game gift will be available only at participating retail stores or online stores. With Age of Shadows, the participating retailers were GameStop and Electronics Boutique. This time around, even more retailers might take part.

Please have your suggestions submitted by Friday, August 6th.

Thanks for your suggestions! </blockquote>

The e-mail to send your suggestions to is [email protected] and title your subject "Samurai Empire Pre-order Suggestion".

I'm actually quite happy with the concept of the 7AE gifts - a choice of a wide variety of items, including some with near artifact status - that I'm going to suggest that EA repeats this concept for the pre-order of Samurai Empire. /php-bin/shared/images/icons/biggrin.gif

 

[CitizenKane2]

Posted on FYI section of uo.com - Test Sosaria Downtime :

<blockquote>Test Sosaria will be down about 5:30 PM PDT to about 11:00 PM PDT to receive Publish 26.</blockquote>

 

[CitizenKane2]

Quite a lot of news posted on the General News section of UO Stratics :

1. List of Changes for Publish 26 - see here :

<blockquote>Publish 26, as with most game publishes, contains a number of game updates and bug fixes. This article contains a summary of the upcoming game improvements that will come about with Publish 26. The items listed below are in development and have not passed QA. This is not a guarantee that these changes will make it live with publish 26 exactly as listed.


*Various adjustments to monster loot such as gold and magic item intensity adjustments across the board.

*Changed gargoyle gems from 4 to 1d4 per player feedback.

*Increased loot dropped by Betrayer.

*Modified Elemental loot.

*Slightly reduced red &amp; black Solen Warrior and Infiltrator loot and increased Solen Queen loot.

*Dungeon Chest loot was adjusted.

*Added metal chests to spawn on plague beasts after they’re well fed.

*Ant Lions now have a chance to spawn an adventurer’s skeleton (rogue, mage, or bard).

*Bumped up minimum intensities for treasure hunter loot to be more in line with current loot changes.

*Turned on the Serpent Pillars for Test Centers only to test stability.

*Fixed Tracking issue where player characters with 0 hiding could not be tracked.

*Players will no longer appear in monster and animal tracking gumps.

*Made improvements to the firehorn.

*Added firehorn to test center bank box (should appear in same bag as spellbooks and reagents)

*Made the following creatures Bardable.

Orc Brute
Golem (monster version)
Gargoyle Destroyer
Exodus Overseer
Exodus Minion
Jukan Lord
Meer Warrior
Betrayer
Juggernaut
Meer Captain
Meer Eternal
Chaos Dragoon Lord
Bog Thing
Vorpal Bunny
Whipping Vines</blockquote>

2. On this thread here at the Test Sosaria Forum, Ferbert made the following comments (among others) :

<blockquote>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Next week? we get pub 26 next week??



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



That's the goal. We're working on publishing more frequently for a variety of reasons. Some publishes may be mostly bug fixes or some sort of balance changes and some will also include some new features. Additionally because the live team is responsible for maintaining the service, some publishes, such as publish 26, will largely consist of infrastructure improvements designed to save us time in the long run so that we can focus on delivering more for you all. I don't want to talk much about the details of our new publish cycle just yet, we're still tuning it and we're not yet hitting our goals as consistently as I'd like. Once things have stabilized a bit I'll talk about this in more depth.

Cheers,
Fertbert</blockquote>

3. On this thread in UHall here, Leurocian made the following request for feedback :

<blockquote>Fertbert and I are considering the idea of allowing treasure hunters and fisherman a rare chance to acquire power scrolls and artifacts as loot. Of course, power scrolls would be limited to the Felucca chests and artifacts would be limited to the Trammel chests. Of course, the chance to acquire these would have to be rare enough to make them worthwhile, but not too frequent to deter players from doing Felucca Champion Spawn or the Gauntlet in Malas.

Would you want to see what we're proposing in game? If not, feel free to state your thoughts as well.

I have several questions that I would like to ask you. Any feedback and answers you can give would be great.

How long does it take you and your group to do a Felucca Champion Spawn? How often do you get power scrolls of various levels (wondrous, elder, mythical, and legendary)?

How long does it take you in real life time for you and your group to do the Gauntlet? How often do you get artifacts?

How long does it take you to fish up and SoS?
How long does it take you to dig up a Treasure Chest?

When treasure hunting, do you solo them or do you bring a group along to assist you?

{Edit} Siege &amp; Mugen could possibly get power scrolls or artifacts since there is no Trammel facet.

Thanks everyone</blockquote>

And also made this comment :

<blockquote>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Let's just add a very slim milli-percentage that there will be an arty/PS in loot; from orcs to Titans, from serpents to Ancient Wryms, from skeletons to RC, just give everything else a slim chance to be worth while to hunt.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



This is an interesting idea as well. My real life Uncle actually has an idea similar to this. </blockquote>

 

[CitizenKane2]

For those that missed it, the 29 July 2004 UOHoC Chat Log can be found here.

It includes (among other things) the following :

<blockquote>Brannoc - *Drahcir* Does the ninja's smoke bombs allow him to walk while hidden? If so, won't this ruin the hiding/stealth skill combination?
OSI_speedman - Smoke bombs basically cause an instant hiding check
OSI_speedman - even in the heat of battle
OSI_speedman - And there are lots of interesting things coming up for stealth
OSI_speedman - It won't ruin the skill combination, it'll enhance it</blockquote>

<blockquote>Brannoc - *Nos* What will the required taming level be for the new creature, the Hiryu?
Oaks - It'll be higher than a dragon. =) </blockquote>

<blockquote>Brannoc - *wilki24* Question From CitizenKane in Uhall: Is there any news about the lack of EM events on the Formosa shard?
LadyLu - I think you mean Tokuno Islands /php-bin/shared/images/icons/wink.gif
OSI_speedman - um, yeah... can't spell. sorry /php-bin/shared/images/icons/smile.gif
Zilo - Formosa, along with Arirang and Balhae have had less events than the NA and European shards. We are finalizing details to kick off a separate event program for those 3 shards. It will start in August.</blockquote>

Added : Post here by Leurocian :

<blockquote>Hello There,

Just wanted you to know that I've internally fixed two necromancer related bugs.

1. Unable to mount a horse while in Vampiric Form.
2. Instant Resurrection upon death when in Horrific Beast, Wraithform, or Vampire form.

These fixes should go out with Publish 27. </blockquote>

 

[CitizenKane2]

Posted on the General News section of UO Stratics - Publish 26 will not be released this week and likely to be released in the week 16 August 2004. The thread on UHall about this can be found here.

 

[CitizenKane2]

Continuing in the "tradition" of the usual updates thread, here's a short warning to start off 2004 - DO NOT DOUBLE CLICK ANY TORCH OFFERED IN A TRADE WINDOW. Apparently, it may be part of a scam. See this thread here

ADDED : Title of 1st post changed.

The purpose of this thread is to provide news and information which may be of interest to UO players. See the last post of this thread for the latest news /php-bin/shared/images/icons/smile.gif

 

[CitizenKane2]

Posted on the General News Section of UO Stratics are these news items (among others) :

1. A reminder to update your e-mail contact particulars at www.ultima-registration.com for the next round of (free) 7th Anniversary Gift codes.

There were a lot of concerns about "opting in" to allow EA to send players the e-mail codes this way (eg spam etc) and Binky has addressed / commented / clarified on many of them.

2. Luck - 1200 luck cap will be removed. Luck bump (if achieved) is 10% of 10% of the max intensity of the property. So for, say, lower requirements, which has an intensity range of 1-10, it would be a 1-point bump. For Damage Increase, with a max intensity of 50, it would be a 5-point bump.

3. Players (again) report a possible insurance bug / exploit and Binky confirms that EA is looking into it. The thread on UHall is here

4. Japanese Server Migration and New Hardware (Izumo and Asuka) - see here. Hmm ... I wonder whether Formosa, Arirang and/or Balhae will also get smiliar changes.

 

[CitizenKane2]

Posted on UO General News section :

1. Yamato, Sakura, Hotuko, Mugen, Wakoku and Mizuho all get migration to a new network co-location facility. See FYI of uo.com here.

Has anyone noticed any significant difference ?

2. Siege PBD Survey going Live this Week - see this thread here.

 

[CitizenKane2]

Some short notes.

In this thread in UHall here, Fertbert posted :

<blockquote>Publish 26 is probably going to one shard on Monday and should be rolled out world wide over the course of the next week. This is assuming we don't find any more show stopping issues with the new publish system. *crossing fingers*.

There have been a lot of improvements made to the publish system in the past two weeks. It's looking a lot more robust than it was two weeks ago, so I'm glad we waited. In the meantime we've also made a few more loot tweaks. And of course we've been working on publish 27 as well.

Things in the works for publish 27, pretty high certainty these will be part of that publish:
- some exciting new reasons to hunt in Ilshenar
- fixes for 6th char slot client problems
- high-profile bug fixes
- exploit fixes

Other things in the works that may ship with publish 27:
- a new reason to take your rogues and treasure hunters out adventuring
- house customization ease of use improvement
- functional serpent pillars
- improvements to the mini-map display

We'll post a more complete and detailed list on www.uo.com in a couple of weeks once we see which changes look most certain to pass QA and to make it into publish 27.


Cheers,
Fertbert</blockquote>

Leurocian added, in a seperate thread here :

<blockquote>The loot increases for treasure chests and monster will be in pub 26. I'll coordinate with Fertbert and Binky on Monday to post a comprehensive list of all the pub 26 changes.</blockquote>

The UO Stratics interview with Leurocian can be found here :

<blockquote>Q: Do you have any serious pet peeves about what goes on when you play UO?

A: Skill gain system needs tweaking. Would like to see more action in the seas. Would like to see spawns more dynamic. And I can’t stand unkillable guards!

...

Q: What evolutionary or revolutionary changes would you like to see in UO?

A: Better skill gain system. Newer updated graphics. Monsters with really mean AI. Improved spawner. Continued improvements to PvP. Improvements to crafting. Being able use a game controller like in Final Fantasy XI may be cool too. Disclaimer: What I would like to see and what will happen may be different things. These are just my personal likes. </blockquote>

Watch out for the Item Insurance and Blessed Survey on Monday (US Time - which would be Tuesday Singapore / Taiwan time).

By the way, the Ultima Online Samurai Empire Haiku Contest is only open to US residents. The official rules for that contest here state :

<blockquote>2. Eligibility. This Contest is only open to residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia and Canada excluding Quebec who are 13 years of age or older at time Contest begins. Employees of Electronic Arts Inc., and its affiliates, subsidiaries, representatives, advertising, promotion and publicity agencies and the immediate families of each are not eligible. Contest is void where prohibited, restricted or taxed by law. All federal, state and local laws and regulations apply.</blockquote>

 

[CitizenKane2]

Publish 26 Contents and Schedule

<blockquote>Today, August 16th 2004, we will be updating the Chesapeake shard with Publish 26. During this process the Chesapeake shard is expected to be unreachable from anywhere between 1 – 3 hours.
Below is a complete list of changes and enhancements included in Publish 26.

Publish 26 Changes and Enhancements

Various adjustments to monster loot such as gold and magic item intensity adjustments across the board.

Tweaks to luck calculations.

Increased cap of luck beyond 1200.

Changed gargoyle gems from 4 to 1d4 per player feedback.

Increased loot dropped by Betrayer.

Modified Elemental loot.

Slightly reduced red &amp; black Solen Warrior and Infiltrator loot and increased Solen Queen loot.

Adjusted Dungeon Chest loot.

Added metal chests to spawn on plague beasts after they’re well fed.

Ant Lions now have a chance to spawn an adventurer’s skeleton (rogue, mage, or bard).

Bumped up minimum intensities for treasure hunter loot to be more in line with current loot changes.

Tweaked loot for fishing, dungeon, and treasure hunter chest loot.

Reduced loot for nobles, rat shamans, and serpentine dragons.

Adjusted ogre lord loot to be consistent with arctic ogre lord loot.

Modified earth elementals to drop 1-4 fertile dirt instead of 1.

Removed non-magical jewelry from ancient wyrms, shadow wyrms, rikktor, ice serpents, efreeti, and skeletal dragons. Added 5 random jewels to ancient wyrms.

Doubled chance to receive a super slayer weapon or instrument.

Added tribal, deer, bear, bandannas, and orc masks as magic loot.

Turned on the Serpent Pillars for Test Centers only to test stability.

Fixed Tracking issue where player characters with 0 hiding could not be tracked.

Players will no longer appear in monster and animal tracking gumps.

Made improvements to the firehorn.

Added firehorn to test center bank box (should appear in same bag as spellbooks and reagents).

Added 10 message in a bottles to test center bank box.

Made the following creatures Bardable.

Orc Brute
Golem (monster version)
Gargoyle Destroyer
Exodus Overseer
Exodus Minion
Juka Lord
Meer Warrior
Betrayer
Juggernaut
Meer Captain
Meer Eternal
Chaos Dragoon Lord
Bog Thing
Vorpal Bunny
Whipping Vine

Vampire formed players can now mount horses.

Fixed instant resurrection bugs with horrific beast, wraithform, and vampiric embrace.

Fixed necromancer forms bug when changing from one form into another.

Made changes to prevent camping in dungeons.

Added 80.0 poisoning skill for dread spiders.

Added succubus and Semidar to daemon slayer group.

If the Chesapeake Shard publish is successful we will begin the worldwide rollout tomorrow, August 17th 2004, with the following schedule:

August 17th, 2004: North America Eastern Shards
August 18th, 2004: North America Western Shards and Japanese Shards
August 19th, 2004: Remaining WW Shards

We will keep you informed of any changes to this schedule. </blockquote>

 

[CitizenKane2]

1. You can pre-order the UO:Samurai Empire expansion at this link at EB Games (USA) HERE. That site states (among other things) :

<blockquote>Pre-order and receive an in-game Soulstone! A Soulstone allows an Ultima Online player to store skill points in a specific skill and to more skill points from one character to another. This allows a lot of flexibility in changing your existing skill level! The Soulstone will be delivered in-game when the player enters a promotion code that will be shipped with the game! If you choose In-Store Pickup for this game, please contact the store for bonus item availability.</blockquote>

Please note that the shipping and handling charges to Singapore from USA is US$32.00. (I just placed an order /php-bin/shared/images/icons/tongue.gif)

2. Details about the soul stones - the pre-order gift - can be found here :

<blockquote>Pre-Order Ultima Online Samurai Empire and Get Your Soulstone!

Soulstones give you the power to change your character without losing your work!

A Soulstone allows you to store extra skill points in a specific skill or move skill points from one character to another. This gives you a great deal of flexibility in managing your characters’ abilities without losing the skill points you worked so hard to get!

Make sure the retailer you pre-order from is a participating retailer. Ask a sales representative at the store, or make sure the online store mentions the promotion.

We will announce a complete list of participating retailers on September 2nd.

FAQ

How do I get my Soulstones?
When you go to the store to pick up the box you pre-ordered, you will be given a coupon with a 20-digit code on it. (Make sure the store is participating in the promotion before pre-ordering the game.)

Or, if you ordered from an online retailer, you will receive the coupon in the same shipment as your Samurai Empire game. (Make sure the promotion is mentioned on the Samurai Empire order page before ordering.)

Once you have the coupon, enter the 20-digit code into the in-game promotion system and the Soulstone will appear in your in-game bank box.

Can I have more than one Soulstone?
Yes. You get one for each box you pre-order.

How can I use a Soulstone?
If you have a character that you want to be a pure warrior, but he has a bunch of Magery skill points, you can move those Magery skill points to another character you own.

Or, if you have a character you’d like be a blacksmith one day and a warrior the next, store your blacksmith skill points in one Soulstone and your swordsmanship skill points in another Soulstone. Change your character back and forth when you wish. (Except during battle. Soulstones cannot be used during battle.)

Can I give a Soulstone to a friend?
No. Soulstones are account specific. You can pass your Soulstones from one character you own to another, but you cannot give one to a friend.

Can Soulstones be used during battle?
No. You will not be able to use them in the middle of a fight.

Can I use a Soulstone to move skill points from one skill to another?
No. The skill points you store in a Soulstone cannot be transferred to another skill. For instance, you can’t turn Blacksmith skill points into Swordsmanship.

Can I accumulate more skill points in one character by combining the skill points with another character?
No. If you have 50 Swordsmanship on Character A and 40 Swordsmanship on character B, you CANNOT combine those points to get 90 in Swordsmanship on one character. If you move the points from Character A to Character B, he will end up with 50 Swordsmanship skill points, erasing the 40 skill points that were there before.

I have more questions about Ultima Online: Samurai Empire. Where should I go?
Go to www.uo.com/uose and you’ll find lots more information and game assets.</blockquote>

3. Further information about UO Soul Stones found in this thread here:

<blockquote>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


a) One time use? Or reusable?




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


These Soulstones will be reusable.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


b) How do you handle powerscrolls? Can you move 120 Magery to a character with a 100 pt skill cap?




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


The character on the receiving end must have the ability to accept 120 points or it will not transfer and you will be informed in game as such. </blockquote>


4. The preview of the survey on insurance, posted by Binky, can be found on this thread here :

<blockquote>After much more discussion on what is and what isn't technically feasible, we have missed the deadline to get the survey posted live for today as the research partner is on the East coast.

I did, however, want to post the survey questions for you to preview.

Thank you for your patience and cooperation.

SURVEY WILL BE PRESENTED AS FOLLOWS:

Ever since the Launch of Age of Shadows, in-game item insurance has been a hot topic of debate. As we continue to modify and update Ultima Online we obviously want to make changes that will have the most positive effect on the largest group of players.

Account Name: [______________] (must provide for vote to be counted)

1. Having said that, please take a moment to review and select the proposed option from the list below that you would like to see implemented in regards to item insurance:

- Implement a sliding cost insurance scale where the price of insuring an item raises and lowers based on the items properties
- Limit the number of items a player can insure at one time
- A combination of the first two options: A sliding cost scale and a limited number of items insured at a time
- Remove item insurance from UO all together and revert to old looting rules
- Remove item insurance from UO all together and never drop any items from your corpse
- Leave item insurance as it is
- No preference

2. How many items should a player be able to insure at one time?

- One item
- Two items
- Three items
- Four items
- Five items
- Six to ten items
- More than ten items

3. Do you play on the Siege Perilous or Mugen shards?

- Yes
- No, I don't play on those shards

4. Please choose your preferred method for how we should resolve the issue on Siege Perilous and Mugen concerning Blessed items:

- Leave existing blessed items as they are (except Hat of the Magi) and ensure everyone has 1 Personal Bless Deed
- Remove the blessed status from 7th Anniversary Edition gifts and Hat of the Magi only, leave everything else as it is, and ensure everyone has 1 Personal Bless Deed.
- Remove blessed status from all blessed items (includes PBDs, Rune Books, CBD items, and Vet rewards) and ensure everyone has 1 Personal Bless Deed and 1 Clothing Bless Deed (not usable on Hat of the Magi)
- Remove all blessed items from Siege and Mugen and leave the shard as it is
- Remove all blessed items from Siege and Mugen and make PvM combat more difficult
- Do not make any changes to blessed items and do not add item insurance
- No preference </blockquote>

 

[CitizenKane2]

Publish 26 Schedule for West Coast and Japanese Shards -here :

<blockquote>On Wednesday, August 17th 2004, the Baja, Lake Austin, Pacific, Napa Valley, and Sonoma servers will all be receiving Publish 26 and are expected to unavailable from anywhere between 1 - 3 hours beginning at 10:00AM PDT (5:00PM GMT). The Hokuto, Yamato, Asuka, Wakoku, Izumo, Mizuho, Mugen, and Sakura servers will all be receiving Publish 26 and are expected to unavailable from anywhere between 1 - 3 hours beginning at 4:00PM PDT (11:00PM GMT). </blockquote>

The reference to 17 August 2004 may (or may not) be a mistake and refers to 18 August 2004 (Japanese shard time) ?

 

[Shiva1]

Thanks as always CKane2 for keeping us updated =))

 

[CitizenKane2]

Thanks Shiva. /php-bin/shared/images/icons/smile.gif

South East Asia and European Shard Publish 26 Schedule - see here

<blockquote>The South East Asia shards will be receiving Publish 26 and are expected to unavailable from anywhere between 1 - 3 hours beginning at 5:00PM PDT (12:00AM GMT). The European shards will be receiving Publish 26 and are expected to unavailable from anywhere between 1 - 3 hours beginning at 9:00PM PDT (4:00AM GMT).</blockquote>

 

[CitizenKane2]

Publish 26 Update - here :

<blockquote>The rollout of Publish 26 on the Japanese shards is taking longer than anticipated and is expected to return to service around 10:00PM PDT (5:00AM GMT) The South East Asian shards should return to service at approximately 11:00PM PDT (6:00AM GMT). And the European shards should return to service at approximately 1:00AM PDT (8:00AM GMT). We will keep you updated of any changes.</blockquote>

 

[CitizenKane2]

Back to the Update Thread ! /php-bin/shared/images/icons/smile.gif

Publish 27 Picture (paragon and minor artifacts) courtesy of Lady Malynn :

On this thread here, Leurocian made the following clarifications :

<blockquote>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1) Is that wooden horse RIDEABLE? (it's much too big to be the ethy statue I thought it might be)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

No.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2) Are the paragons going to be hued gold? (Oh PLEASE LEURO, SAY YES PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yes.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

3) Any update on the timeframe these will be plunked onto Test Sosaria to be tested? Or even on some other test to test them?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm hoping by tomorrow. We'll see.</blockquote>

The details of the minor artifacts, courtesy again of Lady Malynn on this thread here :

<blockquote>Minor Artifacts

A lesser artifact is basically an item where its theme is visible through its name, hue, and properties, but isn't necessarily the best of the best. Therefore, these items should very rarely exceed the maximum intensities and should very rarely have multiple maximum intensities.

Minor Artifacts will have a chance of spawning in each attacker's backpack after a paragon creature or a leviathan is slain. This chance is computed and scaled based upon its fame level. Furthermore, the luck value of each attacker will also influence his/her chance to acquire a minor artifact.

Here are the minor artifacts that will appear for Publish 27.

Polar Bear Mask
Bear Mask
Cold Resist 21
Physical Resist 15
Night Sight
Hit Point Regeneration 2
Self Repair 3

Luna Lance
Lance
Chivalry 10
Damage Increase 35%
Strength 5
Swing Speed Increase 20%
Poison Resist 5

Captain Quacklebush's Cutlass
Cutlass
Use Best Weapon
Damage Increase 50%
Hit Chance Increase 10%
Dexterity Bonus 5

Night's Kiss
Dagger
Hit Slayer: Repond
Hit Life Leech 30%
Damage Increase 35%
Swing Speed Increase 25%
Damage Physical 50% Poison 50%

Ship Model of the H.M.S. Cape
A Minature Ship Model

The Admiral's Hearty Rum
A Bottle of Rum

Candelabra of Souls
A Candelabra

Iolo's Lute
Lute
Undead Slayer
Demon Slayer
Charges (1600)

Gwenno's Harp
Harp
Repond Slayer
Reptile Slayer
Charges (1600)

Arctic Death Dealer
War Mace
Hit Harm 33%
Hit Cold Area 66%
Damage Increase 40%
Cold Resist 10%
Swing Speed Increase 20%

Enchanted Titan Leg Bone
Short Spear
Hit Lightning 25%
Hit Physical Area 60%
Damage Increase 20%
Hit Chance Increase 10%
Physical Resist 15%

Nox Ranger's Heavy Crossbow
Heavy Crossbow
Mage Weapon -15 skill
Spell Channeling (no fast cast penalty)
Hit Poison Area 25%
Swing Speed Increase 30%
Poison Resist 10%

Blaze of Death
Halberd
Hit Fireball 50%
Hit Fire Area 50%
Damage Increase 35%
Swing Speed Increase 25%
Fire Resist 10%

Violet Courage
Female Plate Armor
Luck 95
Defense Chance Increase 15%
Physical Resist 14%
Fire Resist 12%
Cold Resist 12%
Poison Resist 8%
Energy Resist 9%
Mage Armor
Lower Requirements 100%

Cavorting Club
Club
Self Repair 3
Damage Increase 35%
Swing Speed Increase 25%
Poison Resist 8
Energy Resist 8
Fire Resist 8
Cold Resist 8

Burglar's Bandana
Bandana
Stealing 10
Stealth 10
Snooping 10
Dexterity Bonus 5
Physical Resist 10
All other resists default

Dread Pirate Hat
Tricorne Hat
Fencing 5
Archery 10
Dexterity Bonus 8
Luck 80
All resists default

Phillip's Wooden Steed
Wooden Horse

Gold Bricks
Stack of Gold Bricks

Alchemist's Bauble
Bracelet
Magery 10
Enhance Potions 30%
Lower Reagent Cost 20%
Poison Resist 10%

Bow of the Juka King
Bow
Reptile Slayer
Hit Chance Increase 15%
Damage Increase 40%

Gloves of the Pugilist
Leather Gloves
Wrestling 10
Damage Increase 15%
Dexterity Bonus 8
Physical Resist 18
All other resists default

Orcish Visage
Orc Helm
Strength 10
Stamina Increase 5
Self Repair 3
Physical Resist 8
Fire Resist 5
All other resists default

Staff of Power
Blackstaff
Spell Channeling (no fast cast penalty)
Spell Damage Increase 5%
Faster Casting Recovery 2
Lower Mana Cost 5

Shield of Invulnerability
Order Shield
Defense Chance Increase 15%
Spell Channeling (no fast cast penalty)
Reflect Physical Damage 10%
Physical Resist +8%


Related to Minor Artifacts (Ancient SOS and Fabled Fishing Nets)

There is a 1 in 40 chance that any message in a bottle becomes 'an ancient SOS' instead of 'a waterstained sos' when opened. Essentially, 'an ancient SOS' is a level 4 treasure chest that will always contain a new type of special fishing net called 'a fabled fishing net'. When 'a fabled fishing net' is used deep in the sea, it will spawn a new sea creature called a leviathan. Like other special fishing nets, various sea creatures will also spawn, but in greater number. For comparative purposes, leviathans are equivalent to a paragon blood elemental in difficulty. Like with paragon creatures, possible minor artifact items may be rewarded to player characters who battle and defeat these legendary creatures. Along with typical loot, a leviathan always carries two kinds of ropes and a message in a bottle. It also has a 25% chance to carry a level 5 treasure map.</blockquote>

Leurocian added in the same thread :

<blockquote>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Expically if serpents do make it into the reptile slayer group.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I did that today. Sea Serpents and Deep Sea Serpents have been added to both the snake and reptile slayer groups. Publish 27 should contain this update.</blockquote>

and

<blockquote>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Woot!! I guess kraken and the leviathan arn't effected by slayers eh?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nope.</blockquote>

On this thread here, Leurocian confirmed that the paragon monsters will be hued gold and added :

<blockquote>I'm adding level 5 maps on rotting corpses for publish 27.</blockquote>

On this thread here, Talanithus lists the Samurai abilities (based on GenCon meeting) :

<blockquote>Learn the secrets of the Samurai. Find out what deadly powers the new Bushido skill will bring you. Many of the mysteries of the Samurai have been revealed, though some secrets will stay secret.

Note: Samurai Empire is still being play tested and balanced. Some of the special abilities might change before launch day.

Trained in Art of Bushido: Bushido grants a bonus to several warrior skills and special moves. Bushido is a new skill and will be listed in the skill list. It has a regular cap of 100, and a cap of 120 with Power Scrolls.

Special Ability: Honorable Execution
This special ability attempts to end an enemy's life with a single attack. If the attack does not kill the Samurai's enemy, her defenses are greatly weakened: Resistances suffer and Resist Spells suffer. The Samurai cannot attempt any special move while weakened, although a successful parry instantly ends the weakness.

If successful, the Honorable Execution infuses the Samurai with strength, healing them and boosting their swing speed for a short duration.

Passive Ability: Weapon Parry
Samurai are more adept at parrying with a weapon than a shield – especially the two-handed variety. This happens automatically as their Bushido skill increases along with Parry.

Special Ability: Confidence
The Samurai is emboldened as he or she blocks an opponent's strikes, gaining hit points and stamina each time. The Confidence defensive stance lasts for a duration of several seconds.

Special Ability: Evasion
For a short duration after activating this ability, the Samurai can attempt to parry any attack (including attacks like dragon breath and lightning bolts).

The Evasion defensive stance lasts for a duration of a few seconds.

Special Ability: Counter Attack
The Samurai is able to return damage used against them with the next successful block. Damage returned is based on the Samurai's weapon damage, as well as their skill in Parrying and Bushido.

The Counter Attack defensive stance lasts for a duration of several seconds.

Only one of the three special parrying moves may be used at a time. Using a new ability while one is already active will immediately cancel the old ability.

Special Ability: Lightning Strike
The Samurai attacks with great speed and ferocity, granting a significant bonus to hit. This ability uses some mana, and a delay of a few seconds must pass before the ability is fully recharged. If it is used again before the delay has elapsed, the bonus is greatly diminished. If the Samurai successfully blocks an attack, the delay is instantly removed.

Special Ability: Momentum Strike
Samurai automatically attacks another opponent with an impressive damage bonus (equal to Bushdio skill) if the attack against their primary opponent succeeds. Bonus should be even greater if the attack kills the primary enemy.

Skill Bonus: Whirlwind
Whirlwind attacks gain a damage bonus from the Bushido skill, increasing as it affects more enemies. The damage bonus is applied to all enemies that are hit by the Whirlwind attack, including the primary target.</blockquote>

 

[CitizenKane2]

Updated list of properties for minor artifacts - see this page on this thread here :

<blockquote>Minor Artifacts

A lesser artifact is basically an item where its theme is visible through its name, hue, and properties, but isn’t necessarily the best of the best. Therefore, these items should very rarely exceed the maximum intensities and should very rarely have multiple maximum intensities.
Minor Artifacts will have a chance of spawning in each attacker’s backpack after a paragon creature or a leviathan is slain. This chance is computed and scaled based upon its fame level. Furthermore, the luck value of each attacker will also influence his/her chance to acquire a minor artifact.

Here are the minor artifacts that will appear for Publish 27.

Polar Bear Mask
Bear Mask
Cold Resist 21
Physical Resist 15
Night Sight
Hit Point Regeneration 2
Self Repair 3

Luna Lance
Lance
Chivalry 10
Damage Increase 35%
Strength 5
Swing Speed Increase 20%
Poison Resist 5

Captain Quacklebush’s Cutlass
Cutlass
Use Best Weapon
Damage Increase 50%
Hit Chance Increase 10%
Dexterity Bonus 5

Night’s Kiss
Dagger
Hit Slayer: Repond
Hit Life Leech 30%
Damage Increase 35%
Swing Speed Increase 25%
Damage Physical 50% Poison 50%

Ship Model of the H.M.S. Cape
A Minature Ship Model

The Admiral’s Hearty Rum
A Bottle of Rum

Candelabra of Souls
A Candelabra

Iolo’s Lute
Lute
Undead Slayer
Demon Slayer
Charges (1600)

Gwenno’s Harp
Harp
Repond Slayer
Reptile Slayer
Charges (1600)

Arctic Death Dealer
War Mace
Hit Harm 33%
Hit Lower Attack 40%
Damage Increase 40%
Cold Resist 10%
Swing Speed Increase 20%
50% Physical / 50% Cold

Enchanted Titan Leg Bone
Short Spear
Hit Lightning 25%
Hit Lower Defense 40%
Damage Increase 20%
Hit Chance Increase 10%
Physical Resist 15%

Nox Ranger’s Heavy Crossbow
Heavy Crossbow
Damage Increase 20%
Spell Channeling (no fast cast penalty)
Hit Stamina Leech 20%
Swing Speed Increase 30%
Poison Resist 10%
50% Physical / 50% Poison

Blaze of Death
Halberd
Hit Fireball 50%
Hit Fire Area 50%
Damage Increase 35%
Swing Speed Increase 25%
Fire Resist 10%
50% Physical / 50% Fire
Lower Requirements 100%

Violet Courage
Female Plate Armor
Luck 95
Defense Chance Increase 15%
Physical Resist 14%
Fire Resist 12%
Cold Resist 12%
Poison Resist 8%
Energy Resist 9%
Mage Armor
Lower Requirements 100%

Cavorting Club
Club
Self Repair 3
Damage Increase 35%
Swing Speed Increase 25%
Poison Resist 8
Energy Resist 8
Fire Resist 8
Cold Resist 8

Burglar’s Bandana
Bandana
Stealing 10
Stealth 10
Snooping 10
Dexterity Bonus 5
Physical Resist 10
Fire Resist 5
Cold Resist 7
Poison Resist 10
Energy Resist 10

Dread Pirate Hat
Tricorne Hat
Fencing 5
Archery 10
Dexterity Bonus 8
Luck 80
All resists default

Phillip’s Wooden Steed
Wooden Horse

Gold Bricks
Stack of Gold Bricks

Alchemist’s Bauble
Bracelet
Magery 10
Enhance Potions 30%
Lower Reagent Cost 20%
Poison Resist 10%

Bow of the Juka King
Bow
Reptile Slayer
Hit Chance Increase 15%
Damage Increase 40%

Gloves of the Pugilist
Leather Gloves
Wrestling 10
Damage Increase 15%
Dexterity Bonus 8
Physical Resist 18
All other resists default

Orcish Visage
Orc Helm
Strength 10
Stamina Increase 5
Self Repair 3
Physical Resist 8
Fire Resist 5
All other resists default

Staff of Power
Blackstaff
Spell Channeling (no fast cast penalty)
Spell Damage Increase 5%
Faster Casting Recovery 2
Lower Mana Cost 5

Shield of Invulnerability
Order Shield
Defense Chance Increase 15%
Spell Channeling (no fast cast penalty)
Reflect Physical Damage 10%
Physical Resist +8%
Lower Requirements 100%</blockquote>

Most of the changes were to remove the hit area % chance from the minor artifacts (except for the Blaze of Death).

Over HERE, in answer to the question "Can "human" monsters be paragons? I just realized I need to hunt savages for kin paint, and wondered if I'll be seeing the occasional "gold" savage. What about Jukas and Meers, can they be paragons too, since they are human(oid)? What about brigands?", Leurocian answered " Yes to all the above.".

Loot tweaks are planned for Publish 27 - see here :

<blockquote>Let me state once again that we have not tweaked loot since publish 26 in any way, shape, or form. There is a slight tweak planned for publish 27, however.</blockquote>

 

[CitizenKane2]

Further bits and pieces.

Over here, Leurocian confirmed that the drop rate for treasure chests in paragon monsters is 10% (1 in 10).

Paragon creatures' golden hue may not work in the 3D client - see here.


And over here, Leurocian replied to the query " How will their firebreaths be taken care of because on another thread they were talking about the breath doing 300+ damage which when done does sound about right":


<blockquote>Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I just talked this over with Oaks, and we decided to cap dragon breath weapon damage (200 hp damage before resists).</blockquote>

And added the following comments on minor artifacts in the same thread :

<blockquote>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

what will be the durability on these items?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

255 same as major artifacts.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

can you use powder of fort on these items?


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I don't recall offhand if you can with major artifacts, but if you can, then the answer is yes. If you can't, the answer is no.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

can you use clothing bless deeds on the clothing items?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


I don't see why not. </blockquote>

ADDED : Leurocian confirmed that the mage spell telekinesis will work on Level 6 chests - see here

 

[CitizenKane2]

I missed this earlier. Posted here by Fertbert :

<blockquote>Here's the deal regarding using cliloc entry #s in the names of player namable objects...

From my perspective it is exploitive to use this to get a name that you couldn't just enter letter-by-letter due to length or content restrictions placed upon such names.

If the GMs were willing to ban for this, I would have encouraged them to do so, however GMs aren't banning simply for the use of this technique (assuming no third party program was used to accomplish this), but if you use this to try to scam people you will be banned.

I'm encouraging the GMs to ban people who use this to disrupt other peoples' gameplay (covering their screen in text, creating lag, etc.) This is one of those places where it's easy to get into a grey area, so I recommend avoiding this altogether.

Please feel encouraged not to do this... this is not an intended use of the game mechanics; it will go away someday and anything named in this manner is going to get a very boring default name.

Cheers,
Fertbert</blockquote>

 

[CitizenKane2]

Part II of the RPG Interview with Sunsword can be found HERE. Highlights include :

(1) The gardening system is getting an update - Players lucky enough to find the special seeds will be able to grow their own Bonsai tree.

(2) Surprise Attack &amp; Shadow Jump are abilities for the Ninja.

(3) One of the more unusual new creatures is the giant Rune Beetle. It will be a difficult foe because of both its magical abilities and protective exoskeleton.

(4) Shurikens and the ****iya (blow gun) are new projectile weapons. Smoke bombs do not cause damage, but assist ninjas with their hiding and stealth skills. Many new weapons including the Tessens (fighting fans) and Sais are fast two-handed weapons.

 

[CitizenKane2]

Over here, Leurocian posted this on the minor artifacts :

<blockquote>The arctic death dealer will be the glacial hue, and I added -15 mage weapon to the staff of power. As far as the rest of the tweaks, I'll wait until QA is finished testing before Binky or myself release the final information. </blockquote>

Posted on General News section of UO Stratics, Leurocian on the Paragon spawn (the thread is here :

<blockquote>Question: Say you are attacking dragons with Enemy of One and a dragon(paragon) spawns, will the enemy of one still apply to the dragon(paragon)?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Will the color of the chest be random or will it be colored based on the monster or level?

Answer: Random.

Question: Here is another thought... since there are, even tho they will be modified, Champion spawns in illsenhar... can, or will paragons spawn During a champion spawn? if so that would increase the difficulty &amp; Fun of champ spawns. :&gt;

Answer: Yes. Paragons can spawn during an Ilshenar Champion Spawn, but a Champion of Evil will never spawn as a paragon.

Question: Leurocian, will there be a chance that a Paragon creature will spawn as part of a t-map guardian spawn?

Answer: No because paragons only spawn in Ilshenar and treasure maps are for Trammel and Felucca only.</blockquote>

Over here, Leurocian posted this :

<blockquote>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1) Minor Artifacts - these things are going to become so common that they will be valueless. Im not grunting them, just that everyone is so excited about them, and this great, but how long until they become as common as trash left on the streets at West Brit bank (ps-pick up your trash please - Im sure it adds strain to the servers)? I would suggest making them much rarer - as like if 1 in 20 creatures is a paragon, maybe only 1 in 20 has a minor.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The chance for a paragon to spawn an artifact for each individual top attacker is scaled based on the paragon's adjusted fame level. So balrons, ancient wyrms, etc. will have a lot higher chance to spawn a minor artifact than blood elementals, daemons, earth elementals, mongbats, etc. Of course, it would statistically take a lot of paragon mongbats to get a minor artifact, but it is possible.</blockquote>

Over HERE, Fertbert made the following clarifications on the cliloc entry #s :

<blockquote>We have a fix ready to be deployed soon. Because of this we have decided that we will only be banning for the use of cliloc entry #s if they are used to scam others. Use of the cliloc entry #s outside this purpose was considered legal in the past so will not be changing at this time.

Please do not page a GM about potential gameplay disruptions regarding this issue as they will be taking no action based solely upon the use of cliloc entry #s. However, do continue to page if you see anyone abusing the cliloc entry #s to scam others. Sorry for the confusion on this matter.</blockquote>

 

[CitizenKane2]

Quite a few bits and pieces today.

(1) Client Patch 4.0.4a info - here :

<blockquote>We are planning to release a client patch today, September 1st, at approximately 3:00PM PST (10:00PM GMT), which will include support for Publish 27 and the following.

Both Clients:

*Localization updates
*6th Character Slot issues addressed
*DVD drive detection

If patched correctly, your current version will display 4.0.4a for both clients. If you have any difficulty receiving this patch, please check the following:

Check the "Patch" directory within your Ultima Online directory (the default location is C:\Program Files\Ultima Online\Patch). This directory should be empty. Any files in this directory should be deleted. If you are unable to connect to the patch server at all, and are using an original (Non-T2A) version of Ultima Online, you may need to update your verinfo file. For details on updating this file, please see the information posted at http://support.uo.com/tech_6.html. Run a virus scan on your computer. Undetected viruses may cause conflicts with patching Ultima Online. For information on up-to-date virus detection software, please visit http://www.mcafee.com/myapps/vso/default.asp.

If after trying the above, you are still experiencing difficulty patching the Ultima Online client, please visit this web page.</blockquote>

Some interesting localisation added with the patch - see this thread on UHall here. Among them - "You cannot summon a mirror image because you have too many followers."

(2) Samurai Empire -

Gamespot has a preview of Samurai Empire with screen shots - see here

Some interesting bits :

<blockquote>As one would imagine with a ninja, having excellent stealth skills is a must. Shadow jump, mirror image, and surprise attack are some examples of the ninja's special abilities that improve with being stealthy. Being a ninja is going to give players a chance to sneak around and fight in ways they've never been able to, as well.</blockquote>

and

<blockquote>Samurai Empire has new floor, wall, and roof tiles; over two dozen new decoration items that are also rare items; plus over 60 new craftable items. We really wanted players to be able to create a dojo or pagoda from top to bottom. There are new sword racks, lanterns, Japanese garden tiles, fans and scrolls to hang on the wall, and food items to craft. Players will have to find the rare items or buy them from a vendor or another player. Having thief skills will be a great advantage in acquiring these sought-after articles. The bonsai tree seeds are offered as rare loot items--only found on Samurai Empire creatures.</blockquote>

and

<blockquote>I mentioned before that the guild system is new and improved. I believe the guild system will be a pleasant surprise to all players of Ultima Online. We are introducing guild leaders, emissaries (who can invite or remove members), warlords (who can set and accept the win conditions to guild wars), and ronin (a "mercenary" rank of sorts--they are part of the guild with the absolute minimum permissions required to participate in wars). There will also be a new voting system for players to vote in or out a guild leader.</blockquote>

and this pic :

Dual wield ?

The News] RPG Vault : Ultima Online: Samurai Empire Diary #1 - see here

(3) Publish 27

Apparently Publish 27 has hit the test shard - see this thread here

 

[CitizenKane2]

Posted here

<blockquote>The Virtue of Honor

Honor is the courage to defend and uphold the truth, and derives from Truth and Courage. The mantra associated with Honor is Summ.

Virtuous Ability: Embrace Honor

The reward for following the path of Honor is the ability to move peacefully among aggressive monsters, as well as a damage bonus to melee combat.

You can activate Embrace Honor by double-clicking the Honor icon on the Virtue gump, and then targeting yourself. Activating this ability will cause all monsters to ignore you for a limited amount of time. The duration you embrace your Honor increases as you achieve higher levels on the path of Honor.

If you are in combat when you embrace your Honor, any opponents already aggressive towards you will not be affected.

Gaining Honor:

You can gain Honor by engaging in honorable combat with monsters or NPCs. You can do this by double-clicking the Honor icon on the Virtue gump and targeting an appropriate opponent. You will face your opponent, bow to them, and speak the words, “I honor you.”

You then must defeat your opponent in an honorable fashion.

Honorable combat is defined as:

*Allowing your opponent to damage you first.
*Engaging in one-on-one combat.
*Not using ranged weapons, unless you stay in the same spot where you honored your opponent, or you only damage your opponent while adjacent to them.
*Not allowing your pets or summoned creatures to help you during the battle.
Avoiding the use of poison.


To engage an opponent in honorable combat, your opponent:

*Must be one that you can perform negative actions upon.
*Must be at full health.
*Must not already be honored by a nearby player.
*Must be close to you, in your line-of-sight, and have a clear path to you.


The amount of Honor you gain from defeating your opponent is determined by how closely you followed the above guidelines for honorable combat, as well as your opponent’s level of fame.

Virtuous Titles: Each virtue has three steps on the path to enlightenment, each more difficult to attain than the last. Upon reaching each step, you will be given a new Virtue title, which is displayed when you mouse over the Virtue’s associated symbol (in this case, the Chalice of Honor) in the Virtue Gump. </blockquote>

 

[CitizenKane2]

As some of you may know, EA has put in code to detect a certain (illegal) third party scripting program. Please do not post the name of the program or links to the program. As a reminder, Wilki EA posted this reminder here :

<blockquote>Only these programs are permitted to be used with UO. If you don't see a program listed here, it is not approved for use with UO.

* UOAssist
* UO Auto-Map
* UO Calculator
* UO Curse Tool
* UO Journal Converter
* UO Magic Tool
* UO Spawn Map

These products were created, and are marketed and distributed by individual authors under license from Origin Systems, Inc. ORIGIN SYSTEMS HAS NOT TESTED THESE PRODUCTS IN ANY WAY WHATSOEVER AND DOES NOT KNOW WHETHER THEY WORK IN ANY OR ALL REASONABLY FORESEEABLE SITUATIONS OR THAT THEY WILL NOT CAUSE DAMAGE IN SOME REASONABLY FORESEEABLE SITUATIONS. The individual author solely warrants that these products will work as intended to your reasonable expectations, and does not infringe anyone's intellectual property rights.

Origin Systems has not checked the source code for any of these programs. Origin Systems will not be held responsible for anything that should happen to your account or computer as a result of using these programs. Origin Systems does not support these programs. If you have problems with them, please contact the author of the program directly. Use at your own risk.

Programs such as ICQ, AIM, UO Trace, or any other program that runs independently of UO, and has no effect on the UO data stream or software are generally ok to use.

We are frequently asked about programs such as Multi-UO and some programs that automate macros in the game. Again, if it is not in the approved list of UO Pro programs, then it is not ok to use with UO.

We are not currently accepting submissions to the Third Party Affiliate Program.</blockquote>

 

[CitizenKane2]

Some short notes.

Over here, Leurocian clarified what the loot tweaks in Publish 27 would be like :

<blockquote>It's hard to explain without going into all the different kinds of backpacks, how many items each backpack can carry, what intensity level they can possess, and how many backpacks and what type does each monster possess.

With that stated, I'll do my best to be concise and share with you the changes that will occur.

For 'rich backpacks', we’ll cap max intensity at .75 for two out of the three items and double the nothing weight for the 3rd item - which can have up to 100% intensity. The min intensity range for all three items is 0.

For 'filthy rich backpacks', we’ll remove one of the items that has a range of 0 to 100% intensity. That will leave the filthy rich with 2 items @ 0 to 1 and 1 item @ .25 min 1 max.

This way, filthy rich intensity will stay the same (as it should IMO), but the rich backpacks get toned down a little. The filthy rich backpack will notice a slight reduction in # of items (1-3 less items generally speaking).

Some examples of creatures that have rich and filthy rich backpacks.

drakes (1 rich backpack)
ogre lords (2 rich backpacks)
daemons (1 rich and 2 average backpacks)
dread spiders (1 filthy rich backpack)
blood elementals (1 filthy rich and 1 rich backpack)
poison elementals (1 filthy rich and 1 rich backpack)
dragons (2 filthy rich backpacks)
serpentine dragons (2 filthy rich backpacks)
balrons (2 filthy rich and 1 rich backpack)
ancient &amp; shadow wyrms (3 filthy rich backpacks)
bone daemon (8 filthy rich backpacks)

Hope this clarifies what I mean by slight loot tweak for Publish 27. </blockquote>

Leurocian also made the following comments in the same thread :

<blockquote>Basically, a paragon gets one extra monster backpack that scales based on its fame level. Sometimes this may not be as noticable on the lower end of the scale because creatures that are lower level tend to have less loot. However, higher end paragons such as balrons, ancient wyrms, etc. receive one extra item intensity backpack similar backpack to a Champion of Evil.</blockquote>

and

<blockquote>It will be interesting to see how all this pans out on the production shards. BTW, I just seen a lone tamer with a white wyrm and a nightmare using Veterinary on the white wyrm solo a paragon blood elemental. I was quite impressed! His/her timing on the heals was perfect and his/her movements were very calculated within the 8 tile threshhold.

I seen two paladins doing area peace and using archery, and they did extremely well vs. a paragon balron. Their timing was very good also.</blockquote>

 

[CitizenKane2]

Some quick notes :

(1) Over HERE, Leurocian put up an impressive list of fixes that were made to Test Shard for Publish 27 :

<blockquote>original poster - Winterfrost: nodraw tile, in corpses of paragons.
status - Fixed

original poster - -Fluffy-: paragons not increased by 20% only 10%
status - Fixed

original poster - Coven of One: polar bear mask dissapointment (color)
status - I'll have it be 1150 &amp; 1153. 50% chance for each - like the Violet Courage armor. Two random colors. That way, those that do like the neon white can still possibly get that in the polar bear hat.

original poster - Laz!: Question, why -15 mage weapon added to staff of power
status - Because a lot of posters suggested this.

original poster - JCtheBuilder: Fire breath from high leavel paragons may be insta death.
status - Leurocian:I just verified internally using a debugger and the paragon ancient wyrm dragon breath is capped at 200 damage with 0 resist. So you must have been comboed or were affected by some other damage attack as well.

original poster - LOLLERSKATES: paragon chests and loot are blessed
status -. Fixed.

original poster - Jackson: paragons move to fast
status - Leaving it like this to review once the publish goes live on production shards.

original poster - ZeroLS: animated dead creatures become paragons
status - Leurocian: Fixed summoned pets (magery, necromancy, etc.) from becoming paragons in Ilshenar.

original poster - Frarc: paragons dont show up gold hued in 3d
status - Leurocian: Within the next 2-3 weeks Fertbert is going to be reviewing 3D artwork and hopefully make the necessary corrections so paragon gold hue will show up in 3D.

original poster - Southern: leviathan teleport onto land
status - Leurocian: Intended behavior.

original poster - Khazad II: gold colored non paragon creaturs are spawning
status - Unable to recreate this.

original poster - Jersalaw: got artifact message and no artifact in bank or pack
status - Leurocian: Fixed.

original poster - Malkes: exodus overseer paragon is unkillable
status - Leurocian: Also fixed Exodus Overseers, Exodus Minions, and Exodus Minon Lord (if we ever use them again) from being invulnerable with their magical barriers. Since these can become paragons now, I removed the magicalbarrier absorption abilities from them, but kept all their special attacks.

original poster - Hector LA-THB: juka bow artifact has normal durability not 255
status - Fixed

original poster - deathz: wants diffrent art for leviathan
status - Leurocian: Not a bug for Pub 27.

original poster - Sir Bolo: anyone found a level 0 map off a mongbat?
status - Leurocian: Mongbats do not spawn level 0 maps.

original poster - OLD DRACONIS: captains ale renamed to bottle of liquor instead
status - Leurocian:I just verifed that this bug is fixed. If you didn't create a new character on 8/8 and had an older test center character, you probably had one of the 'bugged' bottles. The proper name for the Admiral's Hearty Rum should remain after logging out for any newly created character.

original poster - Hettar LS: when dead, monsters followed him at paragon speed untill they found other adventurers to kill.
status - Unable to recreate this.

original poster - NaKasha Saran: wants staff of power in more than one possible shade
status - Leurocian: Staff of power comes in two different hues as well.

original poster - Prince Erik: paragon curses drain to much
status - Leurocian: It is because their eval int and magery skills are boosted by 20%.

original poster - Minotaur2k: you can withdraw any amount of gold provided you do it in 60k or less incriments
status - Fertbert is aware of this, but there are no plans to fix this for publish 27.

original poster - Red Falcon: paragon blood ele had a total of 200% damage 100% phys 50% energy 50% poison
status - Leurocian: Unable to recreate this.

original poster - NAvienne: status of pub 27 going to test sosoria
status - Leurocian: Soon.

original poster - Hector12: tentacles of the harrower are freed by para blow wrestling special
status - Leurocian: Fixed.

original poster - OLD DRACONIS: was able to cut the gloves of the pugilist.
status - Leurocian: Fixed.

original poster - Winterfrost: when attempting to redesign a house paragon chests, candles, and a ship model did not go into the moving crate
status - *noted to look into*

original poster - DarkPaladin[L^H]: found a house break in bug
status - Leurocian:Email [email protected] so Fertbert knows of the issue as well.

original poster - AirmidCecht: good aligned paragons still attack good aligned characters
status - Leurocian: Fixed.</blockquote>

(2) Already posted on General News Section of UO Stratics :


New Client Patch

<blockquote>We are planning to release a client patch today, September 9th, at approximately 5:30PM PST (12:30PM GMT), which will include additional support for Publish 27 and the following.

2D Client:
Fixed memory leak related to resizing the game play window
Reduced CPU utilization

3D Client:
Improved efficiency

Both Clients:
DVD-ROM drive detection code will now skip examining the a: and b: drives
Localization updates


If patched correctly, your current version will display 4.0.4b for both clients. If you have any difficulty receiving this patch, please check the following:

Check the "Patch" directory within your Ultima Online directory (the default location is C:\Program Files\Ultima Online\Patch). This directory should be empty. Any files in this directory should be deleted. If you are unable to connect to the patch server at all, and are using an original (Non-T2A) version of Ultima Online, you may need to update your verinfo file. For details on updating this file, please see the information posted at http://support.uo.com/tech_6.html. Run a virus scan on your computer. Undetected viruses may cause conflicts with patching Ultima Online. For information on up-to-date virus detection software, please visit http://www.mcafee.com/myapps/vso/default.asp.

If after trying the above, you are still experiencing difficulty patching the Ultima Online client, please visit this web page</blockquote>

Vendor Exploit Policy

<blockquote>It has come to our attention that some players have been blatantly abusing the vendor system. These players are making an attempt to bypass the rental costs associated with vendors, and are also using vendors for extra storage in a way that was not originally intended by our designers.

In an effort to provide a fair and enjoyable gaming experience, action must be taken. With that said, any and all “exploited” vendors found will have their goods permanently deleted upon discovery. In addition, accounts which are associated with these vendors will be actioned accordingly.

Thank you for your patience as we address these issues to ensure the best gaming experience possible.

Platinum
Customer Service Manager
EA Customer Support</blockquote>

NOTE : I'm not sure whether this applies to Vendors who are used to store BOD books. I would advise caution.

And all of you should know by now, players can't sail boats across sever boundaries until probably Tuesday, September 14th, 2004 (USA Time). This has an impact on players training skills using 8x8 on a boat.

 

[CitizenKane2]

Posted HERE on the vendor exploit :

<blockquote>The following are a few points I would like to clarify on this policy:

First thing, this policy is not being put in place immediately. The reasoning for this is because we wanted to give player's advance notice before taking a harsher stance. Our original policy is still in place and the GMs will still action these in the same manner they were before. The harsher policy will be effective in the very near future. I will not be providing you all the exact hour, day or week when this will happen simply because I do not want those exploiting to know how much longer they can get away with it before their items will be lost. This will not affect your ability to report this issue because we do have an existing policy in place right now. All exploiters must take this seriously and correct their vendors immediately to avoid any loss. The GMs in game will begin the new policy at the moment we have instructed them to do so. I am hoping that those of you that are frustrated by this decision will understand that it was made based on what we felt was best for this situation.

Second, a situation where players put BoDs in a BoD book on their vendor and do not price them was brought up as well. This will not be actioned simply because it is not an exploit. The other issues mentioned are in fact exploits and the BoD books were specifically designed to work in this manner.

Third, a situation similar to the ones outlined in the new policy was brought up to me today. I am not prepared to give specifics on it however this issue will be looked into further tomorrow and addressed based on the information that is discovered.

Lastly, if you page into the queue to report a situation like this you will most likely get a message from the GMs stating that they will investigate the situation. I ask you to please accept this response and let them do their job. Due to our privacy policy they are not allowed to discuss with you any action that may or may not be taken. Because we are deleting player's items we must make certain it is warranted. This may mean that a more indepth investigation is necessary to ensure the proper action is taken. Basically, if you do not see immediate action taken it does not mean nothing is being done. If you truly feel the GMs handled a situation incorrectly then please use the "In-Game GM Incident Review" form located at http://support.uo.com.

I want to thank you all for your support of this issue and your patience while we sort all of this out. I will post more updates on this as they become necessary.

Thanks,

Platinum
Customer Service Manager
EA Customer Support</blockquote>

Bold emphasis added by me.

 

[CitizenKane2]

As most of you know by now (and posted on the General News section of UO Stratics), Publish 27 hits :

(a) 14 September 5 PM PDT (10:00 PM GMT) - publish Arirang, Balhae, Formosa and

(b)14 September 4 PM PDT (9:00 PM GMT) - publish Yamato, Izumo, Wakoku, Hokuto, Asuka, Mizuho, Mugen, Sakura

The details relating to Publish 27 has also been posted on the General News section of UO Stratics as well as the FYI section of uo.com.

Of particular interest are the following snipets :

(1) There will roughly be a 5% chance that any creature in Ilshenar will spawn as a Paragon of its kind.

(2) 10% chance that a paragon will spawn with a treasure chest equal to the treasure map level that it can possibly possess. (They will be locked and trapped - need lockpicking skill to open them)

(3) Minor Artifacts will have a chance of spawning in each attacker’s backpack after a paragon creature or a leviathan is slain. This chance is computed and scaled based upon its fame level. Furthermore, the luck value of each attacker will also influence his/her chance to acquire a minor artifact. (This means a single paragon can spawn multiple minor artifacts in theory).

I'm looking forward to Publish 27 ! /php-bin/shared/images/icons/smile.gif/php-bin/shared/images/icons/smile.gif

 

[CitizenKane2]

In case anyone doesn't already know. Posted on General News UO Stratics and FYI :

(1) Vet Rewards Server Unavailable

<blockquote>The Veteran Rewards Server is currently unavailable and will be down until approximately Thursday, September 16th 2004.

We will keep you posted of any changes to the service as they occur.
</blockquote>

(2) Boats can once again cross server boundaries

<blockquote>The issue with boats not being able to cross server boundaries has been resolved and you should be able to once again sail the merry seas!

AAARRRGGGG! </blockquote>

 

[CitizenKane2]

In case anyone missed this - Emergency Publish Deployment here :

<blockquote>We will be deploying an emergency publish to improve shard stability at the following times:

- Immediately: Pacific, Baja, Napa Valley, Sonoma, Lake Austin, Chesapeake, Atlantic, Catskills, Siege Perilous, Lake Superior
- ~8:00 PM PDT: Yamato, Asuka, Wakoku, Hokuto, Izumo, Mizuho, Mugen, Sakura
- ~9:00 PM PDT: Europa, Drachenfels, Oceania, Arirang, Balhae, Formosa

Shard downtimes will be approximately one hour. Legends and Great Lakes have already received the patch and should experience no additional downtime.</blockquote>

 

[CitizenKane2]

Over HERE is a useful chart prepared by Statman (a regular poster) showing monsters which have the "Filthy Rich" Backpack. Basically, post publish 26, only monsters with the "Filthy Rich" Backpack have a chance to spawn up to a 100% intensity item. See the list of monsters from Lichlord and above :

<blockquote>The table contains monster loot packs that Leu has already mentioned in various threads plus additional monsters whose packs I have been able to rebuild using the info from Leu and mine and DocMartin's data.

Monster, Filthy, Rich, Average, Meager, Poor
Bone demon, 8

Ancient wyrm, 3
Shadow wyrm, 3

Balron, 2, 1

White Wyrm, 2, 0, 1

Dragon, 2
Serpentine dragon, 2
Sphinx, 2

Vorpal bunny, 1, 2

Bloods, 1, 1
Poison, 1, 1
Ogre lord, 1, 1
Phoenix, 1, 1

Dread spider, 1
Elder gazer, 1
Liche Lord, 1

Terathan avenger, 0, 2

Daemons, 0, 1, 2
Terathan matriarch, 0, 1, 2
Ophidian matriarch, 0, 1, 2

Efreet,0, 1, 1
Juka Lord, 0, 1, 1

Drakes, 0, 1
Wisps, 0, 1
Liche, 0, 1
Ophidian Justicer, 0, 1
Centaur, 0, 1

Nobles, 0, 0, 1
Gazer, 0, 0, 1
Ophidian mage, 0, 0, 1

Water elemental, 0, 0, 1, 1
Fire elemental, 0, 0, 1, 1

Sea serpents, 0, 0, 0, 1

Slime, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1 </blockquote>

 

[CitizenKane2]

Over HERE Leurocian posted this about a lockpicking bug :

<blockquote>There is currently a bug in the code where level 5 chests (and level 6) are being treated as level 1 treasure chests for the purposes of GGS skill gain. This has been this way since the beginning of GGS. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, I'm going to correct this for publish 28.

100 lockpicking will still be required for level 5 and level 6 chests.

Just wanted to let you all know</blockquote>

ADDED :

Leurocian added in the same thread :

<blockquote>Actually, it does affect lockpicking training for those under 100 skill who wish to gain on failure via GGS with paragon chests.</blockquote>

In another thread here, Leurocian stated :

<blockquote>We will be tentatively introducing 4 new minor artifacts for publish 28. I'm considering that 2 of these will be fishermen only. 1 of these will be T hunter only, and the final one will be Paragon only.

I've also did another pass on improving the loot tables to the base fishing treasure as well.

Just thought I'd chime in and give an update.</blockquote>

and

<blockquote>There will be 2 different kinds of new fisherman minor artifacts (6 total including different hue combinations). Plus one of the minor artifacts that can currently be gotten in level 6 t chests will become fisherman only. Now, that we have a few more minor artifacts available for publish 28, we can fill out the three different categories a little better.</blockquote>

and

<blockquote>I have to admit the new fishing artifacts look pretty nifty. But I don't wanna spoil the surprise I hope you all like them when we introduce them.</blockquote>

And over HERE, Leurocian hinted at a new "Heart of the Lion" minor artifact :

<blockquote>You shouldn't have to after pub 28. Heart of the Lion platemail tunic will essentially be the male version of Violet Courage but with slightly different resist distribution (same total resists)</blockquote>

 

[CitizenKane2]

From FYI at the official UO website - 7th Anniversary Gift Code Email :

<blockquote>Happy 7th Anniversary!

If you are an active player and opted-in to receive email, then you should have already received your 7th Anniversary Gift code. For a description of the gifts, go to www.uo.com/gifts.

However, if you have multiple accounts registered with the same email address and are opted-in for email, then you probably only received one code. We apologize for the delay. The rest of the gifts codes due to you will be mailed by 9-28-04.

Also, if you are an active player and did not receive a gift code, it’s probably because you did not opt-in for email. Email is the only way we can send you the gift code. If you opt-in for email before 10-24, we will do another gift code mailing after that date. That mailing will ONLY be for players who opt in for email between 9-24 and 10-24. We‘re sorry for any inconvenience. To opt-in for email:


1. Go to https://www.ultima-registration.com/
2. Then click on “edit account”
3. Then log in with your account name and password.
4. Then click “edit member info.”
5. Then click the box that says “Contact me about EA products, news and events.”
6. Then click “Okay”
7. That’s it! You’ll now receive email from Ultima Online.

Thank you for your patience.</blockquote>

 

[AmInEsT]

CK, if let's say.. I only opt-in for e email on 25th will I be gettin any of these offers of selecting another gifts?.. Not sure of wad tis is bout leh.. =X

 

[CitizenKane2]

AmInEst, unfortunately I do not know the situation with those who opted in late. I think you should be receiving your code soon - do let me know how this turns out.

On a seperate note ... the formula for minor artifact distribution is revealed by Leurocian HERE :

<blockquote>It's not linear. It's a log formula. Here is what it would look like in a spreadsheet.

=MAX(10,100*(0.83-(ROUND(LOG(ROUND(($D17)/6000,3)+0.001),3))))*(100-SQRT(F$2))/100

$D17 is your adjusted fame level (40% higher than the base fame)

F$2 is your luck.

Some already adjusted fame levels to play with...

Weak Mongbat: 210
Strong Mongbat: 630
Earth Elemental: 4900
Blood Elemental: 17500
Dragon: 21000
Balron: 32000

So the return value of the calculation would be like this...

Dragon = 29 (1 in 29) with 0 luck. 19 (1 in 19) with 1200 luck.

Fertbert is actually the one that came up with this calculation. It makes my head hurt working at it. It seems to work well, however, so kudos to Fertbert for that.</blockquote>

and Leurocian also added that one needs to be a top 16 attacker to get a chance at a minor artifact :

<blockquote>I did say this as long as the individual is a top 16 attacker.</blockquote>

 

[CitizenKane2]

On Paragons and Chances of Getting Minor Artifacts and Luck, I posted in another post on UO Asia already, the following information / chart :

<blockquote>The paragon page on Stratics HERE has been updated with the calculations for "Artifact Chance". You can input your luck on that page to see the artifact chances.

So, for zero luck, the artifact chance for the following monsters are :

(1) Rotting Corpse - 8400 fame - 1 in 68
(2) Titan - 16100 fame - 1 in 40
(3) Poison and Blood Elemental - 17500 fame - 1 in 36
(4) Dragon, Terathan Avenger, Serpentine Dragon - 21000 fame - 1 in 29
(5) Lich Lord - 25200 fame - 1 in 21
(6) Ancient Wrym, Skeletal Dragon - 31500 fame 1 in 11
(7) Balron - 32000 fame 1 in 10

Alternatively, see this chart prepared by Resplendance2 on this thread HERE :

</blockquote>

More on paragons on this thread HERE from Leurocian :

<blockquote>
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have a question about multiple marties...I have seen this happen once and heard from others about it happening as well. When multiple marties do spawn, they are the same marty. Is this supposed to happen?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yes. </blockquote>

And an even more detailed chart about Paragons, Luck and Minor Artifact chance can be found HERE.


On FYI, Win a house on Tokuno, a Soultone and a free copy of Samurai Emp. :

<blockquote>Win a house on Tokuno, a Soultone and a free copy of Samurai Empire! Play in the beta test!

Want to build a castle on one of the large, scenic housing lots on the Tokuno Islands? Here’s how!

Play in the beta test on Sept. 29 between 4:00 – 8:00PM PDT (11:00 – 3:00AM GMT), when we will be conducting server load testing. During this playtest window, we will randomly select 5 UOSE beta testers, who are actively playing on the test server, to receive:

* An 18x18 house plot on the Tokuno Islands on the shard of their choice.
* A free copy of Ultima Online Samurai Empire.
* A Soulstone code.

All the prizes will be delivered after Samurai Empire has launched and is on store shelves November 2. If you win, you will be contacted via email and given instructions on how to claim your prizes.

Tell everyone you know in the Beta to log-in during the playtest window on Wednesday between 4:00 – 8:00 PDT to help with the load test and get a chance to win. See you on Tokuno! </blockquote>

On this thread HERE, the NDA has been waived for certain individuals and information about the (beta) UOSE has been posted. Some interesting titbits :

On Ninja abilities -
<blockquote>- Focus Attack (HCI/DI on your next attack)
- Death Strike (after delivering death strike if the target moves more than five steps or five seconds elapse, they suffer direct damage)
- Animal Form (similar to the forms available to necros - each has benefits and is toggleable).
- Ki Attack (DI based on how far you travel to your opponent from the point you initiate the attack - have to hit within 2 seconds))
- Surprise Attack (Attack from stealth that reduces the target's defense)
- Backstab (attack from stealth with DI based on ninjitsu and how long you tracked youre target)
- Shadowjump (Allows you to teleport while maintaining stealth)
- Mirror Image (creates mirror images of yourself - one per follower slot)


Also...

- Smoke bombs that let you insta-hide and go into stealth mode (50 Ninjitsu required), craftable by alchemists and cooks.
- Shirukens and blowguns
- Auto-stealth (you re-stealth once you've walked the allotted steps)
- The graphics ROCK. I'd put the graphics depth and quality in the 2D client on par with T2A
- TONS of craftables. Much love for many professions. And more armor and weapon choices than you can shake a katana at/</blockquote>

On stealable artifacts :
<blockquote>For anyone who would like to know, there are 2 spots for stealing the new rare items. One is a dungeon and the other is more of a mining cave with monsters in it.</blockquote>

and

<blockquote>Various asian themed paintings. Baskets in different shapes. Sword stands, with and without swords. Tea set, lamps, statues, and other odds and ends.</blockquote>

And more ...
<blockquote>New uses for cooking (new food and smoke bombs)
TONS of new carpentry items
New armor and weps for tailors and blacksmiths
I honestly can't remember if there was anything for tinkers or not
Improvements to stealth (auto stealth feature) for rogues
New stealables for thieves
Runebook 100% recall for all non-mage professions
New tameables, including...

*wait for it....*

*drum roll*

A tameable fire beetle that's a rideable portable forge </blockquote>

<blockquote>Blaze colored, lives at the bottom of one of the mines. Tameable, transferrable to anyone. Three control slots, rideable. And it can be used as a forge.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Tinkers can enhance now. My 100 luck crafting tools will no longer be as useless...</blockquote>

I point out that only specific individuals can reveal information about the UOSE. If you were NOT invitied and attended the UO Community Day in San Francisco, you are still under the NDA and are not allowed to discuss the UOSE beta. (You're not even allowed to say whether or not you are a beta tester).