August 28, Wednesday

Housing Phase 2 ends, Phase 3 begins -Videric

August 27, Tuesday

Avatars Offline -Videric

First ever DVD documentary of massive multiplayer games? One of the first at least, I think. I found the link by browing Raph Koster's site (Designer Dragon, the original lead UO designer), and thought it might be worth of sharing. This is what the site says: "Around the world, hundreds of thousands of people, most of them over the age of 20, spend a significant portion of their life in front of the screen. Socializing. Making friends. Chasing dragons. Getting armor. Meeting soulmates. They are willing to lose friends, family and spouses to live a life "more real" than their own. 'Avatars Offline'is the first feature-length documentary exploring the origins, present and future of virtual worlds such as Ultima Online, Everquest, Dark Age of Camelot and the upcoming Star Wars Galaxies. Through interviews with the developers, avid fans, self-described addicts, scholars and vocal critics, the film seeks to shed a first light on what many believe may be the most significant medium of the 21st century." http://www.avatarsoffline.com/ Raph's Website

August 26, Monday

Player drawn UO Artwork -Videric

Here is an interesting post on the UOboards. Perhaps it will reveal many new promising artists: UOboards post

August 23, Friday

UnknownPlayer.com chat log -Videric

UnknownPlayer.com had discussion with developers of different massive multiplayer games. The topic was "Can a MMOG Charge $25+ per month and survive?" The discussion is fairly interesting to read, but baddly formated, so be warned. My short conclusion of the chat is that massives are probably heading all to 13-15$ per month sooner or later, but no plans for UO to do that in near future (Personally I think they wait until for some more massive update/expansion to justify this, and they certainly wont do it just before Star Wars Galaxies and Asheron's Call 2 comes out). Here is what Melantus had to say, of course we have to remember Lineage is already 15$ per month, while UO isn't: (Melantus) I'd just be careful charging too much. I cringe when I see the playerbase reduced to numbers in columns compared against dollar signs. True that I agree that raising to $15 makes sense...but there is a safe limit I think. At least at this time. Here is Sannio's vision of a good Massive world: (Sannio) I'd rather see the players be able to manipulate their own environment. (Sannio) The more manual interaction you need, the more the game itself will continually cost to make (Sannio) Better to have as much automation as possible, while also allowing players to control their world Read the rest here: UnknownPlayer.com chat log

Next Scenario in two weeks? Maybe. -Videric

Gromm dropped this note to the people at Scenario boards who were speculating of having the story today. Unfortunately it was not to be: Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, folks. No fiction today. We have to put a slight delay on the scenario due to the demonic and evil unseen issue that has arisen. We spent a good deal of today wondering if we were going to be able to post the fiction or not, that's how close things were. What we're looking at is a delay of what SHOULD be no more than two weeks. Again, just like my last update, this is no promise or guarantee of making that date. We believe now we should have no trouble getting the scenario out within the next two weeks but we are one simple alien invasion or tidal wave away from missing that, as always. In the meantime Sannio has made for your enjoyment a great index of all the scenario fiction so far. It can be found HERE. My apologies again, guys. The wait should not be much longer at all now and with the extra time we have the scenario should blow your socks off. If you do not wear socks I suggest buying some. UOboards post

August 22, Thursday

Upgrade to LBR for 9.95 $ -Videric

One of the UOboards members spotted this: We now sell LBR upgrade codes for only $9.95. To qualify for this offer, you must already have purchased the boxed version of LBR. These upgrade codes can be purchased through telephone support only. The purchase of an upgrade code will be issued to the credit card on file for your existing active account. You can reach the Billing Department by telephone Monday through Friday from 9am to 7pm CST, and Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 4pm CST. Call toll free at (866) 543-5435 and hit options 2 then 2 again. If you are dialing from outside of the United States, and need to speak to a billing representative, please dial: (512) 434-4357. For all other queries, such as technical support, account support (password/login), or to purchase LBR from the EA Store, please dial 866-543-5435 (or 512-434-6740 if dialing internationally) and choose the appropriate option. When calling, please have readily available the following: * Account Name * Valid email address * Last eight digits of the credit card Upgrade codes will be emailed to you. Please keep this code for your personal record, as they are used to verify rightful access to an account. EA Custhelp.com

August 17, Saturday

Tales of a Traveller is now an official fansite -Videric

Yes, we are now on the fansite listing of UO.com! In case we have new readers because of this, we bid thee welcome! Also that Famous Character database I talked of is now actually quite near to be in presentable form, stay tuned. http://town.uo.com/links.html

August 16, Friday

Strongboxes -Videric

From FYI: A Word of Caution about Claiming Houses & Strongboxes Co-owners are advised to first empty their strongboxes before trying to claim a house owned by an inactive account. It is, and has been, the nature of strongboxes http://guide.uo.com/house_5.html to not allow you to access them once you no longer are listed as a co-owner of the house. In fact, the strongbox will disappear if you are removed as a co-owner and then try to access it. It is important to understand that by taking ownership of a house you wipe the co-owner list, and any strongboxes still within will not be able to be accessed by their previous owners-yourself included. In this period of house claiming, we ask that players please observe caution regarding their strongboxes. ================= Kerowyn Online Content Editor ORIGIN Systems http://update.uo.com/fyi.html

House claiming NOW on EU -Videric

I am not exactly sure what happend to house claiming schedule, but it seems you can claim houses already on EU.

Serpent Pillars Disabled -Videric

Looks like no sailing to lost lands in a while, which is a great pity. This was posted at FYI: Issues with the "Serpent Pillars" Lost Lands entrance have required us to temporarily disable them, and in all likelihood this situation will be along-term one. We apologize for any inconvenience this change may cause, and ask in the meantime that travelers to the Lost Lands make use of the numerous other entrances available into that area while we investigateoptions for re-activating the pillars. ================= Kerowyn Online Content Editor ORIGIN Systems http://update.uo.com/fyi.html

Spotlight Topic: A Tour of UO -Videric

From good old FYI again: From shrines to dungeons to quaint little places tucked away in remote locations, Ultima Online is filled with interesting areas to visit. Whetheryou'd prefer to hold a picnic by a scenic waterfall, or stage a great battle near a viscous lake of lava, these places provide wonderful backdrops for your in-game events and gatherings. For out next spotlight, we're taking a tour of UO. If there's a particular area in-game that holds a special place in your heart, or one that merely appeals to your eye, we'd like to hear from you! Tell us about your favorite in-game locations and why they're so special! Email your submission, with a screenshot of your favorite location attached, to uo-profiles@uo.com by Thursday, August 22nd. Please be sure your submission falls between 100-500 words, and include "UO Tour" in your subject line. The screenshot should be in bitmap format, and 640x480 resolution. Please provide a name and phone number for verification of the story. Submissions to "uo-profiles" become the property of OSI and may be used for special events, promotions, and/or advertising. Allsubmissions must be made by the original author and are subject toverification. =============== Kerowyn Online Content Editor ORIGIN Systems http://update.uo.com/fyi.html

August 15, Thursday

House Claiming Activation -Videric

From Kerowyn The ability to claim an "ownerless house" (defined as a house owned by aninactive account) will become active after each shard's Friday morning maintenance period, local server time. Barring any issues, all remaining shards should see the changes noted below active following their morning maintenance periods, local server time, as per the schedule at the bottom ofthis announcement. Important notes regarding this stage of Phase 2 of the housing changes: * You will not be eligible to claim an ownerless house if you alreadyown a house on any shard. Co-owners of ownerless houses will have the option to claim the house, and the first co-owner to claim it will be the house's new owner. If there are no characters on the ownerless house's co-ownerlist, then the characters on the ownerless house's friends list will begiven the same opportunity to claim the house. Note: when you claim anownerless house it will automatically be set as your Primary House. * If you are eligible to claim a house, you must double-click thehouse sign to receive the gump-window that will ask if you wish to claim thehouse. * If you own a house and attempt to demolish it, you will be given agump-window that will ask you for confirmation, as well as show you the amount of time remaining before you can place a new house, or be traded ahouse, or set a Primary House. * If you own a house and attempt to set a it as a Primary House, youwill be given a gump-window that will ask you for confirmation, as well as show you the amount of time remaining before you can place a new house, orbe traded a house, or set a Primary House. Note: The automatic refreshing of houses will continue throughout Phase 2.This will cease at the start of Phase 3, except, of course, for thosebuildings set by players to be Primary Houses. We are currently targeting Monday, September 2nd as the start of Phase 3 of the housing changes, although this date is still subject to change. We'll continue to keepeveryone up to date the implementation of the housing changes. We recommend that everyone take at least a few minutes to refresh themselveson the "House Ownership and Decay http://update.uo.com/design_418.htmlChanges" and "House Co-ownershttp://www.uo.com/cgi-bin/newstools.pl?Article=6380 & Friends FAQ"information. * East Coast USA Shards (Atlantic, Catskills, Chesapeake, AOLLegends): 5:00 am EDT, Friday, August 16 (4:00 am CDT, Friday, August 16) * Central USA Shards (Great Lakes, Lake Superior, Siege Perilous): 5:00 am CDT, Friday, August 16 * West Coast USA Shards (Pacific, Baja, Napa Valley, Sonoma): 5:00 am PDT, Friday, August 16 (7:00 am CDT, Friday, August 16) * Oceania: 5:00 am AEST, Saturday, August 17 (2:00 pm CDT, Friday, August 16) * Japanese Shards (Yamato, Izumo, Wakoku, Hokuto, Asuka, Mizuho,Mugen): 7:00 am JST, Saturday, August 17 (5:00 PM CDT, Friday, August 16) * Korean Shards (Arirang, Balhae): 7:00 am KST, Saturday, August 17 (5:00 PM CDT, Friday, August 16) * Taiwan: 7:00 am Taiwan time, Saturday, August 17 (6:00 PM CDT, Friday, August 16) * European Shards (Europa, Drachenfels): 5:00 am GMT, Saturday, August 17 (12:00 am CDT, Wednesday, August 7) ================ Kerowyn Online Content Editor ORIGIN Systems http://update.uo.com/fyi.html

August 13, Tuesday

An Interview with Vex -Videric

From Kerowyn: An Interview with Vex Vex recently had the opportunity to sit down with Nadya Modavia of the Barding community and answer some of her barding related questions, such as: Another question about the new firehorn instrument. Is it intended for the firehorn to indirectly damage other characters in its blast area of effect while other area of effect based magics vs. non-murderers do not? Firehorns are supposed to damage anything in their blast radius that the user could legally damage. This means that on Trammel you can't damage innocent blues, but you could damage your guild mates. On Felucca, you can damage anyone in the area of effect, possibly getting a criminal flag as a result. Want to read more? You can find the complete log of the interview here, at Ianstorm.com! Thanks to Nadya and Vex for a great interview!

August 8, Thursday

Get your character name changed for 30$ -Videric

From FYI: Character Name Change Program Maybe you never thought your crafter mule would become one of your favorite characters, but now his embarrassing name is being plastered all over Britannia thanks to your Maker’s Mark. Perhaps you’ve inherited your characters from your mother, and in your humble opinion she made up some of the worst names ever in the history of RPGs. But you like these characters a lot — if only there was some way to give them a little dignity, some opportunity for respect.... And now for $29.99, you can do just that! The new Character Name Change service is here! That’s right, by using this service we will now change your character’s name for you! A warrior named “Girlface” no longer need worry about the taunts of his peers as he takes on a heroic new name like “Uther Daemonbane,” “lAmEdAmE” can raise her head as a dignified member of society as she becomes “Mordella the Wise,” and “mule 1” no longer needs to take a back seat to your “main” because of his generic or uninspired name! Here’s how the process works: First, contact our customer service representatives at 866-543-5435 (option 2, then 2) to get the process started. Once they have verified your registration information for your account, they’ll apply the service fee and turn you over to the GM staff. They’ll change your name and voila — the long-lost self-esteem for all of those warriors known as “asdf”! There are few things you’ll need to know before getting your name changed: The Character Name Change Service is currently only available on the North American, European, and Oceania shards. To help expedite the process, we ask that you please remove your character from his or her guild and faction beforehand. At the time of the re-naming, a Game Master will need to confirm the appropriateness of the new name. The new name can’t include any apostrophe ' symbols. The new name for the character cannot be longer than 16 characters (about the same length as when characters are first created). This new service is available NOW! Call 866-543-5435 (option 2, then 2), a toll free number, Monday through Friday, from 9:00am to 7:00pm CT & Saturday and Sunday, from 10:00am to 4:00pm CT. http://update.uo.com/fyi.html

August 6, Tuesday

Housing Phase II -Videric

Housing Phase 2 begins Phase 1 of Publish 16's new housing rules has been completed, and all shards are being prepared today to begin implementing the rules for Phase 2 ,to be active after each shard's Tuesday morning maintenance period, local server time. Barring any issues, all remaining shards should see the changes noted below active following their morning maintenance periods, local server time, as per the schedule at the bottom of this announcement. Important notes regarding this schedule's "Housing's Phase 2" itinerary: The master housing registry will become active for all shards simultaneously late this after noon (CDT). This will mean that if you already own a house on any shard, and place a new house or are traded a new house on any shard you, all houses except the newest one will become Condemned. Please consider this if you are looking to place or collect a new house beginning later today. During Phase 2, it will be possible for some of those characters on the co-owner or friend lists to take possession of "ownerless houses" (those houses owned by an inactive account) - although if you already own a house on any shard, you will not be eligible to claim an ownerless house. Refer to the schedule at the bottom of this announcement to find out when the ability to claim ownerless houses is available on each shard. The ability for full-owners to be able to set their homes as "Primary Houses" will not be implemented as part of today's scheduled changes. More information on the ability to set Primary Houses will become available later this week. Note: The automatic refreshing of houses will continue throughout Phase 2. This "shard level" auto-refreshing of houses will cease at the start of Phase 3, except, of course, for those buildings set by players to be Primary Houses. Although Phase 3 will begin soon after Phase 2 ends, it will not necessarily begin immediately after Phase 2 ends - we'll keep everyone up to date on when Phase 3 begins as well. We recommend that everyone take at least a few minutes to refresh themselves on the "House Ownership and Decay Changes" and "House Co-owners & Friends FAQ" information before we enter Phase 2. * East Coast USA Shards (Atlantic, Catskills, AOL Legends): 5:00 am EDT, Tuesday, August 6 (4:00 am CDT, Tuesday, August 6) * Central USA Shards (Great Lakes, Lake Superior, Siege Perilous): 5:00 am CDT, Tuesday, August 6 * West Coast USA Shards (Pacific, Baja, Napa Valley, Sonoma): 5:00 am PDT, Tuesday, August 6 (7:00 am CDT, Tuesday, August 6) * Oceania: 5:00 am AEST, Wednesday, August 7 (2:00 pm CDT, Tuesday, August 6) * Japanese Shards (Yamato, Izumo, Wakoku, Hokuto, Asuka, Mizuho, Mugen): 7:00 am JST, Wednesday, August 7 (5:00 PM CDT, Tuesday, August 6) * Korean Shards (Arirang, Balhae): 7:00 am KST, Wednesday, August 7 (5:00 PM CDT, Tuesday, August 6) * Taiwan: 7:00 am Taiwan time, Wednesday, August 7 (6:00 PM CDT, Tuesday, August 6) * European Shards (Europa, Drachenfels): 5:00 am GMT, Wednesday, August 7 (12:00 am CDT, Wednesday, August 7) ================= Kerowyn Online Content Editor ORIGIN Systems http://update.uo.com/fyi.html

August 2, Friday

We’re preparing for Ultima Online’s 5th Birthday! -Elv'eng

Greywolfe, Online Community Coordinator, said this on this thread on the UO Boards: We’d like to hear what you have to say! What are your favorite UO memories? Have you found a friend or romance? Learned something new that took you by surprise? Have you ever had an experience or been given a compliment that really made your day? Tell us about them here, in a single paragraph of about 75-150 words. Please include the name of your main character and the main shard on which you play, along with your own initials and the city, state, and/or country in which you live. If we’re wowed by what you have to say, we just might quote you! We look forward to seeing what you come up with! :) Safe travels! Greywolfe