 October 28, Monday |
When you play long enough, you just get a feel to things. After first waiting if Second Age lands will open for housing, then standing half an year delay on Trammel placement, hearing one year delay on new avatars, the latest really is not a big surprise. However it is important it does go well, as housing is very important in UO, so by all means I do not want half finished code. I just wish they would learn to stop with too early promises.
Most players will agree that anything that affects housing in Ultima Online is obviously a high-impact change. With this in mind, and seeing that we're still working out some network issues, we're going to keep on auto-refresh for a few more weeks. We understand that some of our players are eagerly awaiting an opportunity to place houses in soon-to-be-vacant spots, and we apologize for the inconvenience caused by the delay, but our top priority has to be making sure that there are no other problems in the service that could cause issues for homeowners once we turn off auto-decay.
Our current estimate for re-instating house decay is mid-November. Claiming of ownerless houses will remain available to players until Phase 3 takes effect. We will make another update about Phase 3 of housing once we have a firm date, and we thank you very much for your patience.
http://update.uo.com/fyi.html |
| October 21, Monday |
 | Exciting news about new shards! -Videric |  |
And as usual, no news or hope for new Europian shards.
The newest North American shard, Lake Austin, is now open to all playersworldwide. We encourage players to come on over and visit the Lake Austin shard, named after the birthplace of Ultima Online! It's thanks to you that we're still growing, and we're very happy to be able to provide a new place to settle and play.
We're also very pleased to announce the opening of the Sakura shard in Japan as of October 21, 2002 CDT! Sakura is currently the 8th Japanese Ultima Online shard and our 26th shard worldwide. The name Sakura is borrowed from the national flower of Japan, where Sakura trees boast beautiful blossoms during springtime. As part of our localized shard policy, Sakura will be open only to players located in Japan for the first 60 days, allowing local citizens to build a community base and to allow us to ensure a satisfactory level of local support.
We will post another update to mark the global opening of Sakura once the first 60 days have passed.
http://update.uo.com/fyi.html |
| October 15, Tuesday |
We've recently released a publish to the Lake Superior shard that contains the following fixes:
* An issue that caused large, leather Tailoring Bulk Order Deeds to yield the same rewards, no matter which type of leather, has been fixed. Players should now receive the appropriate rewards when turning in large, high-level Tailoring BODs.
* An issue that caused the paints given out in Elwood's Quest to
become stuck in an "in use" state has been resolved.
* Blade spirits and energy vortices should now properly attack
creatures within range.
Barring any unforeseen issues, these fixes should be released to all shards on Wednesday, October 16th CDT, to be active following their regularly scheduled morning maintenance periods.
http://update.uo.com/fyi.html |
| October 10, Thursday |
Lots of more quests to come:
That time is here - the final week of the latest ongoing content scenario was released live to the Lake Superior shard last evening, and became active after its morning maintenance period today, local server time. There was one issue discovered on Lake Superior this morning (involving the spawning of one of the scenario creatures). This issue has been fixed, and Lake Superior will receive the newest version of the publish, including this fix, tonight, to become active following its normal morning maintenance period tomorrow,
October 10 CDT. Barring any other issues, all remaining shards should see these changes live following their morning maintenance periods, local server time, as per the schedule below.
* European Shards (Europa, Drachenfels):
5:00 am UTC/GMT, Friday, October 11
(11:00 pm CDT, Thursday, October 10)
http://update.uo.com/fyi.html |
| Tournament of Champions Update. -Videric | |
More updates about the Tournament, no mention however if it is kept within fiction, somehow I fear it is not even if it would have been perfectly easy (seers did same stuff on Jhelom).
OSI-sponsored Tournament of Champions Update!
Everyone's talking about the Tournament of Champions, and to help players keep track of the latest information on this upcoming OSI-sponsored series of "fight nights," we've given it it's very own Web page, and you can find that page http://www.uo.com/tournament.html .
Included in this page are some small, additional rules clarifications. For your convenience, here are those specific updates:
* Oceania is now included as a participating shard! Oceania's
scheduled day is Monday, Nov. 18th, at 4:00pm CST (10:00pm GMT/UTC). [The omission of Oceania was an oversight, and we're happy to include our shard down under in the activities.]
* Red/Murderer characters may not participate in these fights, as Jhelom is a guarded zone. [We've certainly got nothing against Reds, but we needed players with Red characters to realize before even signing up that fighting within a city will be prohibitive to them. However, please keep in mind that there's still more than a week before the tournament begins so some of you may have the opportunity to successfully work off your murder counts in time!]
* No more than 12 potions of any kind can be brought into or used during a fight.
* No magic items other than the potions listed above will be allowed (including weapons, armor, clothing, glacial staves, firehorns, blessed items, etc.).
* Players are not allowed to "buff" themselves (improve their Stats through the use of spells, skills, potions, etc.) before a fight. Buffing may occur, however, once the fight begins and any time during the fight.
* If a player leaves the arena area, he or she will be disqualified.
* As only so many players can participate, open spots in the
tournament registration is limited. Players will be allowed to register up to Saturday, October 19th CDT, as open tournament slots allow.
http://update.uo.com/fyi.html |
| October 9, Wednesday |
| OSI-sponsored Tournament of Champions -Videric | |
Origin Systems is hosting an officially sanctioned player-versus-player (PvP) event: the Tournament of Champions!
The tournament will be a series of 2-on-2 "fight-night" style events with sixty-four teams from each of the 14 participating shards battling it out for the honor of becoming the shard champions! And that's not all-the 14 winning teams will advance to a final battle on Test Center, where the winners will be crowned the best duelists in UO!
Participants will be asked to pay an in-game fee of 25,000 gold coins per person, to be collected just before the match. Matches will be scheduled out over several weeks, so whether you're looking to join in the tournament or just show your support by cheering on your favorite fighters, be sure to check the schedule below. If you are going to join in, please make sure to read all the information below very carefully.
If you think you have what it takes to be the best of the best, read on!
Set-up & Rules: Participants should be familiar with the following details regarding the Tournament of Champions:
* Good sportsmanship must be shown before, during, and after the
entire Tournament of Champions.
* TOS and ROC will be enforced throughout the entire event.
* No spamming or manifesting will be permitted by participants or spectators.
* Breaking of any of these rules will result in disqualification.
* All players in the Tournament of Champions must fight as two-person teams.
* Sixty-four teams from each of 14 shards (see the listing of shards below) will be accepted to participate.
* If either member of the team does not show up for a scheduled fight, the team will be disqualified.
* Each participant will need to pay an in-game entry fee of 25,000 gold coins (that's 50,000 gold coins per two-person team).
* Each two-person team must pay this entry fee to a Game Master
immediately before the start of their first match.
* The entry fee will only need to be paid once per person.
* Failure to pay the entry fee will result in a disqualification.
* No refunds will be given in the event of a disqualification for any reason.
* All fights will take place in the Jhelom arena.
* Both members of each two-person team must be in the city of Jhelom at least 5 minutes prior to their scheduled bout.
* Tournament officials will summon the combatants into the Jhelom
arena at the time of the battle.
* Failure to appear for your scheduled match will result in a
disqualification.
* Combatants may bring personal items into the competition, with the exception of the following:
* No more than 12 combined potions.
* No pets or mounts will be allowed.
* Runic weapons will not be permitted.
* Combatants may use any skills or spells except for the following:
* No hiding will be allowed.
* No use of the Invisibility spell will be allowed.
* No summoning spells (Summon Fire Elemental, Summon Demon, etc.) of any kind will be allowed.
* On the days scheduled below, 64 teams will compete on each shard, and one winning team will be chosen per shard.
* There will be 32 separate fights, each lasting five minutes.
* Each fight will pit one two-person team against another two-person team, and will be a fight "to the death." The team with the last member alive will be declared the winner of that match.
* At the end of 5 minutes, if a winner has not been determined, the tournament officials will make a judgment call as to who will advance. A more aggressive team will win over a less aggressive team-number of survivors, damage done, demonstration of combat skills, and even avoidance of combat will all be factors.
* Only the winning team of each match will advance to the next round.
* There will be 6 rounds of fights on each shard on the appointed day, after which one team will emerge the winner.
* All judgments of the tournament officials are final.
* Once a combatant falls, he/she will be removed from the arena by tournament officials.
* Players will not be allowed to loot one another; the loss of items will not be permitted.
* The winning teams from the 14 participating shards will advance to the Grand Champion matches.
* These Grand Champion matches will take place on a Test Center shard (schedule and rules to be announced).
* All winning teams may be asked to participate in in-game promotional events or interviews for the UO.com website.
* Prizes will be awarded to the winning teams on each shard, and a grand prize will be awarded to the ultimate winner on Test Center.
* GMs will grant each of the winners a special paperdoll title and a specially labeled sash, created uniquely for this PvP Tournament.
Registering: Players who wish to fight in the Tournament of Champions must first register in two-person teams with OSI. To register, one of the teammates must send an e-mail that lists the chosen shard and both character names to the appropriate address below. Spelling must be exact. Only one entry is allowed per two-person team; multiple entries will be disqualified from participating.
If you want to fight on:
Use this e-mail address:
Atlantic:
atlantictournament@uo.com
AOL Legends:
aollegendstournament@uo.com
Baja:
bajatournament@uo.com
Catskills:
catskillstournament@uo.com
Chesapeake:
chesapeaketournament@uo.com
Drachenfels:
drachenfelstournament@uo.com
Europa:
europatournament@uo.com
Great Lakes:
greatlakestournament@uo.com
Lake Austin:
lakeaustintournament@uo.com
Lake Superior:
lakesuperiortournament@uo.com
Napa Valley:
napavalleytournament@uo.com
Pacific:
pacifictournament@uo.com
Sonoma:
sonomatournament@uo.com
Siege Perilous:
siegetournament@uo.com
For example, if Cynthe and Sannio were looking to participate on the Baja shard, one of them would send an e-mail to "bajatournament@uo.com" with the message "Cynthe and Sannio would like to fight in the Tournament of Champions on the Baja shard."
Please note that the e-mail addresses listed above are for Tournament of Champions registration only; questions, suggestions, and complaints should not be sent to these addresses and will not receive responses.
Schedule & location: The Tournament of Champions matches will be held in the Jhelom fighting pits of Felucca according to the following schedule. Approved combatants are required to be in the city of Jhelom on the Felucca facet at least 5 minutes prior to their scheduled fight.
Shard /Day /Time
Atlantic Tuesday, Oct. 22nd 4:00pm CDT (9pm GMT/UTC)
Sonoma Thursday, Oct. 24th 4:00pm CDT (9pm GMT/UTC)
Pacific Saturday, Oct. 26th 2:00pm CDT (7pm GMT/UTC)
Catskills Monday, Oct. 28th 4:00pm CST (10:00pm GMT/UTC)
Baja Tuesday, Oct. 29th 4:00pm CST (10:00pm GMT/UTC)
Chesapeake Saturday, Nov. 9th 2:00pm CST (8:00pm GMT/UTC)
AOL Legends Tuesday, Nov. 12th 4:00pm CST (10:00pm GMT/UTC)
Lake Austin Thursday, Nov. 14th 4:00pm CST (10:00pm GMT/UTC)
Lake Superior Saturday, Nov. 16th 2:00pm CST (8:00pm GMT/UTC)
Great Lakes Tuesday, Nov. 19th 4:00pm CST (10:00pm GMT/UTC)
Napa Valley Saturday, Nov. 23rd 2:00pm CST (8:00pm GMT/UTC)
Europa Tuesday, Nov. 26th 4:00pm CST (10:00pm GMT/UTC)
Drachenfels Thursday, Nov. 28th 4:00pm CST (10:00pm GMT/UTC)
Siege Perilous Saturday, Nov. 30th 2:00pm CST (8:00pm GMT/UTC)
Only one team can be declared the ultimate winner. Will that be yours?
http://update.uo.com/fyi.html |
| October 5, Saturday |
| Role-playing guide in French? -Videric | |
Well just stumbled into french version of Tales of a Traveller RP guide. I feel honoured that people liked it and used it, although link to Tales of a Traveller would have been nice.
Try Histoire and Le Roleplay. I am sure my British friends would have some great wisdom about this all *grins*
http://ordredestempliers.chez.tiscali.fr/ |
| October 4, Friday |
| UO Startics member prevents a suicide -Videric | |
I think this serves as a reminder that there are real people behind every message typed, and what do you say and do can make difference in peoples lifes. The biggest difficulty of internet in these cases is that it is so hard to know if the person on the other end is serious, with so many hoaxes around. But always remember there is a person behind the "nick".
You may read the entire article at UO stratics here:
UO Stratics |
| October 2, Wednesday |
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