Howdy!
I just returned to UO recently and dusted off the thief.
Almost immediately, I noticed that the semi-rare spawns were quite different then what I remembered. I ended up here to find some information. Some of the posts indicated that things were different then the original sticky post. I decided to go test some things out and post my findings here.
All this testing was done on the Pacific shard.
As Petra pointed out (thanks!), many containers need to be primed. I did this two different ways. At first I just tried opening the container, then coming back 20 mins later. Then I tried actually dropping something(a single ginseng) in the container. Both methods seem to work equally, although the northern Ranger hut (Felluca) has a chest(locked) that wouldn't spawn anything until I put something in it.
For the most part, containers DO need to be opened (primed) and 20 mins needs to go by before they spawn anything. As a rule of thumb, if it doesn't have anything in it, open it then come back and check it again 20 mins later.
On a side note, the locked containers seem to be on a 25 min re-lock timer. In other words, you can pick a lock, empty the container, come back in 20 mins and the items will have respawned, but the container will still be unlocked from you unlocking it earlier. 5 mins after the items respawn, the chest will lock and traps will re-arm. So if you are punctual getting back to it, you only have to pick the lock (and deal with traps) the first time as opening it resets both timers.
This brings me to another point. Once you prime a container, DO NOT OPEN IT until you can get the cursor TOOLTIP to show items are actually in the container. If you open the container to check it's contents before the respawn happens, the timer resets and you have to wait another, full 20 mins. Patience!
Here are some specifics.
Buc's Den Smithy-
Spawn still works (ONLY the two barrels inside the smith shop, the one outside just normally despawns anything put in it). Open the barrels to prime them. The drop list in Petra's post for the Smithy in Serpent's Hold applies here. I got wire, horse shoes and forged metal the first spawn, along with various hammers and piles of iron ore. These barrels are NOT locked, and items can be freely picked up, no need to steal them.
Buc's Den Inn-
I was able to get some of the containers in here to start spawning. Some need primed simply by opening, some needed an item dropped in them to prime them. Some were locked, some not. No stealing needed. All that spawned were alcoholic beverages that were sold on the innkeeper in the same room. But this does show that spawns I was previously unaware of can be started with priming. I always assumed these containers were not spawns simply because of the fact that for the past 10 years I haven't bothered to come back 20 mins later and check.
Buc's Den Assassins Guild-
The 3 chests in the back room can be primed by dropping an item in them and just leaving it. Orc helms, tribal masks and deer/bear masks spawn in them. Locked, no stealing. Again, just goes to show that there are specific spawns that can be triggered. Makes me wonder if any spawns--possibly ones with unknown items--might have been over-looked, historically speaking.
Healer's Huts-
Clean Bandages (reversed graphic) spawned in the gold strongbox in the Skara Brae Healer Hut (Trammel), locked, no priming needed, still had to be stolen. Spawned various other non-rare items as well. I assume this spawn is working in the other healer huts as well.
Moonglow Herbalist Shop-
Hanging Dried Flowers, Garlic and Herbs still spawning here, locked, no priming needed, needed to be stolen. Only tested Trammel.
Skara Ranger Huts-
Priming seems to get both the unlocked barrels and the locked chests spawning, but NO whips would spawn in the 6 hours I was checking, either in Trammel OR Felluca. The whip spawn would seem to be dead, at least on Pacific. All I got out of these chests were archery items, clothes and random garbage armor.
Various Provisioners(Trammel and Felluca)-
I was able to get all the old provisioner spawns going with priming. Still locked(some), still needed to steal the items. In addition to all the items listed in Petra's post, I also found reversed sausages(!) in two of these spawns. Not sure if this is normal, historically speaking.
Serpent's Hold Smithy(Trammel)-
Not worth the effort. MOST of the containers here have items too heavy to steal. Not all, but most. What items I cleared out (dying to a guard-whack numerous times, the items are usually heavy and you get noticed too easy) were replaced with more of the same. I didn't see any wire, ingots, horse shoes...nothing of value. Everything that USED to spawn here spawns MUCH faster in Buc's Den. Better off going there.
Britain Carpenter's Shop(Trammel and Felluca)-
All the containers here (locked or not, but excluding the dressers) were spawning nicely after an initial priming. Chisels still spawning. Some containers locked, some not. Stealing not needed.
Britain Baker's Shop(Trammel)-
Strongbox (locked) spawned two rolling pins on first try, no priming needed. Still needed to be stolen, though.
Serpent's Hold Tinkers(Trammel and Felluca)-
Only one container had anything in it...3 un-stealable keyrings. Spawn is blocked until they are removed. Update: All tinker spawns are blocked by keyrings on Pacific. I tried everything I could think of--using keys on the keyrings, essentially--to get the rings to register a weight, to no avail. The fact that they have no weight means they will not be stealable as the success of a stealing attempt is based on the weight of the item being stolen. No weight, no attempt. I did find something interesting though. You can put a key on the rings in the chest and they will STAY there as long as nobody removes them from the ring. One could use this fact as part of a player-made quest/roleplaying mechanic by putting a key in there that someone needs to find in order to open a container.
So, there you have it. I am still trying out some other things (another method of re-starting spawns) and still have other spawns to test, but I suspect some of the spawns will remain blocked/dead until GMs fix them.
I will update this post as I find out more.
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