News: FoF: Dark Doings

[Kurgan]

July 18, 2008



"How do I make my resists go back to normal after I cast Protection, Magic Reflection, or Reactive Armor?"

The vets will probably skip past this one, but QA has been getting quite a few bug reports spurred by these spells - it seems like people don't quite understand how they work. Which is fair, because they're the only spells in the game that work the way they do, and it's easy to forget when you have one on.

These three spells are "toggle" spells, meaning that casting them is like flipping a switch - it turns the effect on, or turns it off. The effect lasts through death and even through logging off. If you notice your resists are altered and you can't tell why, check the descriptions of the spells (see the links above) and figure out which spell is in effect. Then cast the spell on yourself again - or use a scroll, or get a friend to do it if you need to. That will turn the spell back off and your resists will go back to normal.

One thing to watch out for is Arch Protection - it's the same as Protection, but it can be cast on all party members in a certain radius, so it's easy to have it cast on you accidentally if you spend time partied with mages. Casting regular Protection should turn it off, though.

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"When are Character Transfers going to be re-enabled?"

I don't have an ETA yet on this but I wanted to make sure y'all knew we're still actively working on it. Hang in there!

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Account Age Update:

The issue that was preventing people's accounts from updating properly should have been resolved. If you still seem to be showing the incorrect age (and you've waited about 3-5 days for a given character to sync properly) let me know!

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Now Hiring!

We're looking for someone to be our new Associate Game Designer. Here's the job description and requirements:

Main responsibilities: contribute significantly to game fiction, manage events, balance gameplay, and develop content using proprietary scripting tools.

Understanding and or knowledge of Ultima Online game mechanics, history, and community interaction a definite plus.
Experience as a Game Master, Counselor, Seer, or Event Moderator for Ultima Online a bonus.
2+ years experience playing Ultima Online
Position requires dependable and relevant inputs to current state of the game, as well as contributing to future development of the game experience
Gives inputs to other members of the team to enhance gameplay for the current subscriber base

Due to the demanding scripting system surrounding Ultima Online, the designer must have expansive knowledge of scripting languages and have the ability to produce samples of work using similar tools.
Level editing experience and module creation using open source gaming engines (Infinity, Unreal 2.5 or 3, Doom, Source, Aurora Toolset).
Background or exposure to game development processes in the industry
Essential to have experience working in small teams of 4-6 people.
3DS Max experience preferred
2+ years in the game industry and/or gaming school preferred
Can demonstrate understanding of game design concepts to include flow, decision making, engaging storyline, and integration of art and sound

If you're interested in (and qualified for) this position, please send your resume to jdalberg AT ea DOT com and I'll put it in the right hands right away!

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What's To Come:

If you haven't aided the kingdom in investigating the dastardly doings at the castle, please do so! In other news, we're preparing for the Town Hall next week and working on other, more nefarious plans...

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Town Hall News:

The San Diego Town Hall is next week! Check out the details here and please do RSVP if you haven't yet so we don't run out of chips and dip! Leurocian and I can't wait to see you all!

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Fansite News:

Whispering Rose Radio has quite a bit planned, up to and including the Town Hall!


While participating in murder quests and exchanging your cleansweep tickets WRR invites you to tune in and enjoy a few more exciting activities including ....

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Friday - July 18th - Join TorAnn, Dr. Lil and PantherBabe for UO Shard Chatter at 7pm PST, 10pm EST on WRR. Hear UO players chat about this weeks fascinating topics and voice your opinions about what's happening in UO! The weekly show finishes with a "you know you have been playing UO to long when..." segment where very comical endings are presented by UO listeners. Feel free to send yours in. (ICQ numbers can be found on the www.wrrad.com website)

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Saturday - July 19th - Once again its time for the Brush LimpPaw show. Tune in at 2pm PST, 5pm EST as Brush (Norman Bates/Groucho) brings you the NEWS as only he could deliver it.

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Sunday - July 20th - The Pacific Auction House (located just East of the Luna Moongate) continues after 4 fantastic years to bring you more great deals. Get there early for best seating. Auction starts at 12pm PST, 3pm EST and is broadcasted live on WRR.

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Sunday - July 20th - The weekly "Tazz & Keg's Underground" radio show on WRR is broadcasted live at 7pm PST - 10pm EST. Entering their underground world leads you to places you may have never gone before. Are you bold enough?

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*Deal or No Deal ~ 'UO Style' is on vacation for the next two weekends as staff members are preparing for the San Diego UO Town Hall Meeting, on Saturday, July 26th. Several Whispering Rose Radio staff members will be on hand in San Diego and will once more broadcast the town hall meeting live while other WRR staffers will host a special gathering at Dave & Busters on Lake Superior (map).

Have a great weekend playing Ultima Online and listening to the sounds of WRR ~ see you all on the flip side.

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UO Toolbar has some announcements as well!


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UO Stratics Forum Menu Rebuilt

The new UO Stratics Forum menu in the UO Toolbar is complete now. UO Stratics is still restoring parts of their forums... and as those forums come available online, those will be added to the newly rebuilt menu too.

Have a look around and give the new menu a test drive. If you find broken links or mistakes, please post them to the UO Toolbar board on the GameXbar Support Forum.

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UO Toolbar Search Updates
UO Toolbar's Google-powered search box has been rebuilt and revamped. Now your searches will be more accurate and powerful than before! Now you can search specific community sites right from the pull down menu... like UO.com/UOHerald.com, EA's UO Knowledge Base, Ultimate Online Forums, UO Craft, UO Guide, UO Stratics, UO Stratics Forums, and UO Toolbar.

With your help posting URL suggestions on GameXbar's UO Toolbar support board, we would also like to add category searches across the community. If you want to search crafting, it would search only the submitted crafting links... making it extremely accurate and relevant to crafting. Same for taming, armor, skills, etc.

Give it a try, suggestions and posts are welcome!

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UOF Menu In The Works
There is another Community|Forum menu in the works, this one for Ultima Online Forums. It is not finished yet, but when complete... it will give UO Toolbar users direct and fast access to their favorites boards on Ultima Online Forums.

Refresh your toolbar once in a while to see the work in progress.

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Next week the FoF will be on Thursday again, because I'll be on my way to San Diego on Friday. Have a great weekend, everyone!


- Jeremy

 

[Uriah Heep]

Ummmm, not to be a downer or anything, , but the title suggested a bit of intrigue perhaps??

The only dark I see in the whole thing, Is that we are all STILL IN THE DARK ON QUESTIONS WE WANT ANSWERED!!! (SA, Bug fixes, SA, KR, SA, future of 2d, SA, bug fixes, SA, is there a long range plan, get the drift??)

Geeez
How to toggle protection was the main topic? A noob question in a game where all the [young]s are vets masquerading as noobs? right....

And the rest, isnt even fluff, Jesus,this is like AM radio, 1 song, 15 minutes of commercial.

The only darkness in this, is the darkness I feel closing in on us from lack of communication, and that caused by us wearing blinders because we are afraid to look too far down the road.

 

[Der Rock]

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News: FoF: Dark Doings
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YES, VERY VERY dark doings in the FoF

 

[Braun]

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News: FoF: Dark Doings
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YES, VERY VERY dark doings in the FoF

Hmmm, I thought that was more like what ya get when ya drink to much pepto bismol.....

Goes back to a dark corner.....

 

[Yalp]

Well that was a disappointing FoF. Did I save the receipt? Can I get a refund?

Yalpers!

 

[JC the Builder]

I thought Regine was the Associate Game Designer?

 

[GarthGrey]

Our taxed dollars are hard at work....

 

[Ender]

FoF = Two Useless Questions on Friday?

Sure, character transfers are all fine and dandy, they massively screw up the game but whatever, but we didn't even get an answer. And reactive armor, magic reflection and protection? COME ON. Wtf kind of player that reads uo.com and uo.stratics.com doesn't know about those spells?

 

[Basara]

In case you all didn't notice, EA sorta announced a SW: Knights of the Old Republic based MMO this week (which I think will be done by Bioware, a different part of the company than Mythic). Between that, WAR, DAoC and UO, they are gonna be expanding staff, which will probably mean bringing in new people to train as staff for the older games, while some of their old hands go to the new project.

I would not be surprised that some of the former TSO/EAL people get the chance to move over to Mythic's side, while some of the current Mythic staff head over to KOTOR MMO.

Quote from EA Chief Executive John Riccitiello via Ten Ton Hammer & MMODump:

""We've got two of the most compelling MMOs in the industry in development," said Riccitiello. The first title, based on the Warhammer property, will launch soon. "And the one that people are dying for us to talk to them about -- in partnership with Lucas, coming out of BioWare, which is, I think, quite possibly the most anticipated game, full stop, for the industry at the point when we get closer to telling you about it."

Does Riccitiello mean the oft rumored Knights of the Old Republic Online? "Yes," he said."


​

 

[Violence]

Crap.
(Hmm.. I love this particular emoticon..)

No info on KR patch status... SA.... Bug fixes... The new stuff in the folder like the ethereal Cu and Metal Dye Tub...
I can handle that for FoF, never expect it to be good enough. But this record-breaking even for EA.

 

[Basara]

FoF = Two Useless Questions on Friday?

Sure, character transfers are all fine and dandy, they massively screw up the game but whatever, but we didn't even get an answer. And reactive armor, magic reflection and protection? COME ON. Wtf kind of player that reads uo.com and uo.stratics.com doesn't know about those spells?

When you have a clue, please post. Until then, kindly refrain from wasting people's time....

Let's see -

One of the most common post types the last couple of weeks has been basically "What's up with character transfers? Why isn't anyone answering me when I ask what's going on?"

Well, THEY ANSWERED. Granted, it's not a satisfying answer to many, because it's basically acknowleding there are continuing issues - but at least THEY REPLIED to the questions.

Second, one of the most common GAME PLAY questions that keeps getting asked, OVER AND OVER, is "My resists are screwed up! What's wrong????"

As a Moderator, I typically see 1-3 of these a WEEK, and often it takes 10-20 replies to convince the person asking what has happened to them and how to fix it. I am actually HAPPY to see it in the FoF, as it allows me to FINALLY point people to an official description of the issue, instead of having to argue with the "but I didn't cast that" types that eventually find out they DID cast those spells (or were too close to someone casting Arch Protection).

Third, The NEXT thing, that all you whiners keep ignoring, is a REAL answer that they think they've fixed the account age issue. Granted, most of us are taking this with a grain of salt (how many fixes have there been before?), but AGAIN, it's a question WAY over-present and over-repeated on the forums that needed an answer.

The fourth entry is a job opening announcement, and that's far from unprecedented as a FoF entry - ESPECIALLY given what's going on with EA's MMO lines (Mythic and WAR, and BioWare and the SW:KOTOR MMO).

And the last section is a HUGE news section. Which is perfectly fine with me.

You folks DO know that after over a year, the number of quality questions left to be answered WILL start to run low - especially since you drama queens don't even SUBMIT questions - just complain when they don't telepathically pick up your concerns.

 

[Ender]

You folks DO know that after over a year, the number of quality questions left to be answered WILL start to run low - especially since you drama queens don't even SUBMIT questions - just complain when they don't telepathically pick up your concerns.

I submit questions... This week I asked:

1. What happened to developing Kingdom Reborn?
2. Why do we get no news on Stygian Abyss?
3. About how long will the current event (Royal Council Massacre) go on?
4. About how long until we get the next part of the event?
5. Any chance that we could use Pigments of Tokuno on iron made weapons? I have a perfect weapon and don't want to risk losing it by enhancing.

 

[Uriah Heep]

Every question ever asked has been answered then, and needs not be asked again.

As long as you are happy with soon, later, can't discuss that, it's on the radar, we are investigating, we have no timetable yet, It's being looked into, as answers, all is well

Like the questions on SA, it was said last week, NO company releases a stealth expansion, lol, there is always hype and media leading up to it. So dont expect us to believe SA is just around the corner. What we would like, is honesty. If it has been shelved for a year, and wont release till October 2009, so be it. Say so, quit hiding behind the curtains ducking and dodging the issue.
if its coming next month, say so.
If its been totally canned, say so.
You cannot tell me they seriously have no idea where SA is?
*shakes head*
UO has no ground breaking MMO secrets, there's no reason at all to keep us in the dark over SA unless it really is vaporware and they are afraid we will all quit when we hear that.

My fanboi alarm is going off...

 

[Sarphus]

It's good they're hiring.

I just hope they hire someone that can be objective.

 

[MalagAste]

I'm just excited as heck they are hiring and that they are wanting someone with "in-game" experiance!...... that makes my day..... Hopefully they get someone really good!..... creative and very familiar with UO Lore....... I'd try out for the role but..... I don't know squat about computers and even less about programing so that won't work but crossing my fingers that they get someone who's not only Extremely creative but every bit as awesome as Draconi.... that would rock.

 

[Ill Saint]

Still waiting for an explanation on that totally out-of-left-field Spellweaving focus change.

 

[Elric_Soban]

Another typically useless FoF.

Still waiting on:

-KR love
-Bug fixes
-Un nerfings(SW in particular)
-Common sense

 

[Deb]

I submit questions... This week I asked:

1. What happened to developing Kingdom Reborn?
2. Why do we get no news on Stygian Abyss?
3. About how long will the current event (Royal Council Massacre) go on?
4. About how long until we get the next part of the event?
5. Any chance that we could use Pigments of Tokuno on iron made weapons? I have a perfect weapon and don't want to risk losing it by enhancing.

I also submitted questions 2,3, and 4 along with:
1.Will our choosing sides come into play in the next part of the event?
5. Will there be a phase 4 in the spring clean-up? (I dont think there
will nor do I want one but was asking since so many have)

 

[Yalp]

I easily submitted more than enough questions to supply the FoF... none of them used for the FoF. None of them answered by a GM when I paged. None of them answered when I sent in a bug report.

A common thread on these and other boards is the customer service for this product we pay for, month in and month out, is below par. This has infested all areas of communication/customer support provided by EA/Mythic.

LORD Yalp of Zento, CTDM

 

[Demonous]

i dont think characters transfers should have ever been created, i was fine being only on my shard, it caused so many dupes and everything and still does, if transfers were never created the value of gold would be like $5-10 a mil right now

 

[Flora Green]

You folks DO know that after over a year, the number of quality questions left to be answered WILL start to run low - especially since you drama queens don't even SUBMIT questions - just complain when they don't telepathically pick up your concerns.

Glad you are privy to our mailboxes to make such a claim.

The only thing lame is the continued poor communication and the people who continually defend it.