 February 28, Thursday |
 | Forums are back, and better than ever -Videric |  |
| Indeed, have a try at the new forums. |
| This will probably mean that all messages will be whiped. Apologies for the possible inconvinience. |
The following was posted to FYI:
It's that time - the Britannian Housing Association has decreed that as of Thursday, February 28th, all condemned houses will once again be subject to decay! So it's moving time for all owners of condemned houses - please make sure that you've moved all items of value into your main house (the most recent one that you acquired). We are not responsible for any loss of items due to decay in a condemned house!
The length of time for a condemned house to decay is approximately 10 days. The earlier you take action, the better. You can redeed your condemned house, or transfer ownership of it to a player that does not currently own a house. It's important to note that GMs cannot remove the condemned status of a house, so please do not page them about the matter.
FYI |
| February 26, Tuesday |
| Revised PvP and Felucca enhancements -Videric | |
Very interesting things has appeared in "In Concept" folder of UO.com.
Have a look:
In Concept |
| February 21, Thursday |
| February 20, Wednesday |
This one speaks a bit of the new player experience and the mystical magician Uzeraan.
After the player completes their basic game mechanics quest (or the “Horde Demon quest” as it’s referred to here in the office), they emerge into Uzeraan’s Mansion. This structure is one of the two specific areas that are only accessible to new players. Upon entering the mansion new players are immediately presented with a giant, imposing, strategically placed Demon, one of the new creatures featured in the LBR version of the game. Interaction with an exciting new monster never hurts at the beginning of a game. After coming upon the monster, the player is introduced to the main quest NPC, Uzeraan, who handles most of the player interaction during the remainder of the new player quests.
MGON 4th Diary |
| February 18, Monday |
| Information of UO:LBR in Europe -Videric | |
According to UO-europe.com the add-on should be available at 29th of March all around Europe. However according to EA (not on site), it will be in DVD case, meaning that space inside is limited.
So if you're interested in Lord Blackthorn figure, you better order your copy from US. The fate of maps and comic book is unknown at this time. I will update more when I get more information. |
| UO: Blackthorn's Revenge -- Volume 6: -Elv'eng | |
GameSpy keep updating thier Dev Diarys, they are all Volume 6 now.Many aspects of Ultima Online set us apart from other games, and one of my favorites is the ability to charge into battle riding a fearsome nightmare, or just prancing around the bank on an unusually colored forest ostard. Rideables, or mounts, in UO provide many interesting elements for players including a more customized appearance, altered movement speed, and an instant battle companion in the time of need. Wish to read more, then follow this link |
| February 17, Sunday |
Seems like we will be able to grow our own plants in the tfuture. Very interesting indeed...
UOboards post |
| February 15, Friday |
| Electronic Arts (ERTS) on Yahoo Finance -Videric | |
Interesting post about EA Finance, stating basicly that UO is their main source of money.
Yahoo!Finance |
| February 13, Wednesday |
Among many thing he again mentions of new Expansion being worked on. Calandryll was previously told to be working on a new expansion that would come before end of this year.
UOboards post |
| February 9, Saturday |
UOHOC had some interesting questions, here is a short example:
Kehleyr - *Noblesteel[CV]* Are we going to be able to pick or harvest fruit? From like say, the fruit orchard in Ilshenar?
Evocare - Hmm, sort of... although it'll be more like gardening. Ok, no more hints.
Might we be getting some new decorational plants or trees perhaps?
Whole log can be seen here:
Stratics UOHOC log |
Sannio said the following:
Talos is an "Interest Game Master," or "IGM," and as such sets about to create events and quests for players on his designated shards--Europa and Drachenfels. (Note that he is not a "Seer," which was the title for a type of player volunteer--one who would create his or her own sort of in-game events.)
Part of what IGM Talos can do is to do some "minor" changes to the in-game environment, such as adding in walls or plants or chairs in a certain location, or even to add a certain special type of NPC, to help him as he creates & manages his events.
We're learning ways where we can manipulate the game world on a broader basis, and players can see some of the fruits of that labor in the changes within Haven, making it now very distinct from Ocllo. I don't know, however, if we'd be using that technology to specifically look to modify such a specific building/area the size of the forge in Britain.
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Sannio
Online Community Coordinator, UO
Origin Systems
And
Sorry if some of what I wrote seemed a little confusing or vague. Like I wrote in another post, I was just getting over being sick and was still a little loopy. :] I'll try to explain things from a different angle, and the conversation can become a little more productive. :)
As I see it, there's two concepts being tossed about in this thread: why can't all Britain forges be changed the way Talos changed like the ones he worked on, and why can't all shards have IGMs. I'll talk about those in reverse order, starting with quoting myself from another message (with the addition of some minor spelling corrections ;):
In reply to:
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When we discuss our service we often also talk about the 3 larger regions of which our company serves: America, Europe, and Asia. The staff, budgets, even services vary slightly within each area. America's "IGMs" are the content designers for all of UO. Europe has a once-IGM that's allowed to continue to contribute to UO with IGM-style events and small, related locational adjustments. Asian has a full-blown Interest program, and the need for IGMs there is mandated by the scope of their local content and volunteer programs.
The "satellite regions," although all following the lead set forth by OSI, are allowed a certain, small amount of autonomy in what they provide to their local subscribers, and these subscribers know that they can further enhance their playtime by adjusting their in-game time by not restricting themselves to only the closest shard--they can consider all the available shards and manage their playtime between any number of them. It would be nice to offer all the benefits possible in each of the shards/areas/countries to all the others, but it's not practical, and the ability to play across any number of shards is hopefully some level of compensation.
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So what we have there is that the 3 main "play areas" (America, Europe, and Asian) each operate slightly differently, but the great part of playing in the Ultima Online service is that no player is restricted to play on a shard they are unhappy with, and every player always has the opportunity to pass across to any other area, or even shard, at will. As shards continue to define their individuality through dynamic scenario results (are there orcs or savages that now inhabit the Cove "orc" fort? You helped determined the "winners" in their war for your shard), manually implemented content from OSI, or even player communities, groups, and services. Each area and shard will always have their own strengths, appeals, and draws, depending on your individual perception.
And then there's the forge in Britain that was altered. Are they the sort of changes that can or should be implemented throughout the rest of the shards? I don't know, but it's the sort of thing that would need looking into. Doing that for a shard or two is a little different than making it a permanent change for all shards forevermore.
When an IGM places down all those pieces that make up the change (how many? 50? 60? more?), they do so manually, and adding in a large amount of dynamic objects pretty much guarantees you're feeding the local lag monster to some degree. Now, Talos knows his shards, and it's likely that he knows how much lag can be introduced into that area, and maybe he's decided that it's negligible, but would that be absolutely so on all shards? If there's to be a more permanent change, shouldn't the changes exist as "statics" instead of "dynamics," perhaps like the new changes to Haven? Why stop there, why not commit to more dramatic change? And then we have to start reigning everyone's good intentions in, noting that such changes could have sweeping, significant ramifications, and not just to the local traffic.
Obviously such a thing would need to be studied, and the depth of such changes would have to be explored. How exactly would the traffic change? Would the penalties outweigh the benefits? Have their been items in that area that have been added or moved around manually, and how would changes affect those things? How would the radar map change? How would cartographic maps change? How would the local shopkeeper, animal, monster, and resource spawns be affected? Could we do such things without breaking the local NPC shopkeeper regions? I believe that Talos knows his home turf, and knows how to maintain the local balance between what can and cannot be done to enhance the events & quests that he develops, but there's a lot more to consider with such sweeping, permanent changes that will affect so very many players than just adding a few pieces of art. Could we ever do it, to every single shard? Maybe, but it's not something we're currently looking into.
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Sannio
Online Community Coordinator, UO
Origin Systems
As a personal note, even though the Scenarios are interesting, I do think IGMs are very important part of the game, and they certainly should cover all shards. /End of personal comment.
UOboards post
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| February 4, Monday |
Netscape should be working fine with the Tales of a Traveller pages now, after a long while. I did some code re-writing and I found an alternative way which works on both browsers.
Let me know if there is still problems. |
| February 3, Sunday |
| Carde of Skara Brae has returned -Videric | |
Those who have been looking for Carde's great Ultima art for the past months, the search is over. Carde has returned and he will be taking portrait orders again in the future (for part of UO, payment will probably be in US dollars).
He can be reached at his new site, so be sure to bookmark it:
http://www.waysoftheworld.net/ |
Some of you may have noticed that over the past week Traveller has got some graphic improvements. I hope you like them.
Graphics will not be the only new additions, I am working on two more things...
Firstly "the Legends" section which archives stories of quests written and run by IGM Talos and UO-Europa team. This is to archive history of our shard, and to honour the quests. Hopefully in future we will have some reports and stories done by those who attended or tried to solve them. You can already access the Legends from left side menu.
Second additon will be list of characters. It will serve as kind "who is who in Britannia", so next time you wonder who was Malabelle, you will know. When these will be done? Hopefully sooner than later, as the time allows.
If you have any questions, suggestions or comments let me know by e-mailing me or writing to boards.
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