 June 28, Thursday |
From FYI:
UO Concerns Policy
For players who want to submit feedback concerning Customer Support personnel (whether positive or negative), the uoconcerns@uo.com mailbox has been created for this purpose.
In the past, while all mails sent to this mailbox have been read, we have not replied to these mails due in part to the volume of mail and the fact that our privacy policies dictate that when action is taken against a player or an employee, those actions are not made public.
However, through posts on our message boards and mails into UO Concerns, we understand that some of our players feel the mails sent to this box are simply ignored, or even worse, unread.
It is important for our customers to have faith in our support process, so as of today, we have added two new steps to our methods of handling uoconcerns@uo.com mail.
First, all submissions to uoconcerns@uo.com will receive an automated response informing the customer that the email has been received. The automated response will explain the purpose of the UO Concerns email address, and list the criteria used to evaluate if the email is considered a legitimate compliment or complaint.
And second, all emails will receive a response from the staff member reviewing the email. If a complaint is verified, the player should receive a direct response from the CRMD (Customer Relations Management Dept.), and the assurance that the appropriate corrective action will be taken. These instances will then be discussed with the CRMD member involved and treated as a performance issue.
If a complaint is not verified, or if the GM was found innocent of wrongdoing, the customer should be contacted with an explanation as to why there was no violation found.
If a compliment is received, the compliment will be documented in the employee’s work history, and the customer should be thanked for the feedback.
Types of Responses
There are three types of responses that will be sent in regards to UO Concerns emails.
1). Incorrect mailbox
The response explains that the email was not sent to the proper address. The customer should be directed to the appropriate address to contact. There are several other avenues of communication that may be more appropriate, including:
support@uo.com for Ultima Online gameplay questions
tech@uo.com for tech support issues
admin@uo.com for all issues pertaining to in-game suspensions and terminations
uobilling@uo.com for account related questions
the MyUO Forums for suggestions and game ideas
2). Requires more information
The staff member responds to the concern with a request for more information regarding the issue. We will only act on emails that provide the account name that interacted with the Support Representative.
3). Resolution of the Situation
The email is considered valid, and the customer is contacted with notification of the resolution of the situation.
What constitutes a valid UO Concerns email?
We will only review emails that are submitted with the login name of the account involved in the Customer Service interaction. If a player refuses to provide their account name, the email will not be considered valid. Requiring a player to submit their account name allows us to more thoroughly research the issue.
Important information that should be included:
The account name (EA employees will never ask for passwords) of the account you used when interacting with a GM.
Date, Time, and Shard where the incident took place.
An explanation of the reason why you called a GM.
What type of service you received, and what GM took your call.
The type of resolution you would have preferred.
Any additional information that is relevant to the situation.
All valid emails will be noted in the player’s account history, with the submitted feedback as well as the reviewing staff member’s findings.
It’s important to us to see that our level of commitment to our players is high, and that our customers feel their concerns are heard. We hope that these changes will work to show our commitment to the Ultima Online playerbase and community.
http://update.uo.com/fyi.html |
| June 27, Wednesday |
I must say, although UO3d still needs work, this latest patch is indeed VERY good one. Among many other things, it speeds up the game, and gives 2d containers and containers sounds back!
Read about the details in the latest two patches:
***List of Fixes and Features for Release Version 67:***
There was an issue in Build 66 that required some players to alter a line in their config.ini file to run the game successfully. This release version fixed that problem.
***List of Fixes and Features for Release Version 66:***
1) A toggle has been added to the “Interface” subcategory of the options gump that lets players use the old-fashioned style container gumps instead of the new versions.
2) Sound effects play when you open and close container gumps.
3) Shopping gumps should now be much, much faster.
4) A zoom slider has been added to the quick menu.
5) NPCs should no longer continue to walk in place after they’ve stopped moving.
6) Players can now turn off object handles under the “Interface” subcategory in the options gump.
7) Object handles now stack in a certain order - more commonly needed items tend to be on top. For example, handles for corpses stack above all others.
8) Object handles are now color coded re: red/blue/grey for mobiles depending on notoriety, other objects have gold handles.
9) Speech and All-Names are now clickable for targeting, use, and attacking.
10) The player can now disable having the paperdoll model animate.
11) An issue whereby health bars would not update has been resolved.
12) Objects dropped in a container should now show up at exactly the location they were dropped at.
13) A problem where players would not be able to pick up objects has been resolved. This should also resolve problems players have had looting their corpse.
14) Skills are alphabetically sorted for players using languages in the ASCII character set.
15) Skill lock toggles will no longer go awry when a skill is moved from one group to another.
16) Command macros should now save properly.
17) The location of speech text over players’ heads has been adjusted.
18) This patch also includes several fixes to resolve numerous other bugs and crashes reported by players.
|
 | Be cool. Be stylish. Get your own UO BETA T-shirt. -Tomf |  |
Get it now while the Third Dawn beta test is still going on. In 6 months, when the beta is over, it will sell well on Ebay.
If you're a male and play a female character you must get the Baby Doll Logo Shirt. I sure did.
Get your clothes here
|
| June 25, Monday |
| Dedicated artist for UO3d art files -Videric | |
According to Tajima there is now dedicated artist whose sole purpose is to fix UO3d art and animation files. By his own words:
We have an artist dedicated solely to the task of improving or completely redesiging some of the art that our players have concerns with. This will be taking place incrementally over the summer, but we think the end result will be to your liking.
and answering to question: "Sounds really good, does this include improving the animation files too, when need?"
read more here:
UOboards |
Apparently all senior companions been derobed and turned in to "normal" companions (these fellows do not have robes or much special powers). Only time will tell how long there will be any companions.
Strangle I found no mention of this at UO.com, however Lum the Mad has an article:
Lum the Mad |
What did hit our Courant Master Elv'eng?
Do find out, by clicking here. |
| June 23, Saturday |
A picture what 4th year reward decoration kits would look like:
The image |
| June 22, Friday |
Here is some ideas they have:
The following was just added to In Concept. Please provide feedback about your ideas on this idea, in this thread.
** Note ** This idea is currently in a "concept" phase, meaning we want to get feedback on it. However please understand that this idea may change to be quite different from this proposal when or if it becomes finalized. Also note that this proposal might not get put in at all, depending on factors in the design proces as well as the feedback we get from players. As more information becomes available about this concept idea, the update pages will become updated.
As some players’ accounts approach four years in age, the question of whether UO will offer a set of fourth year rewards has been raised. We do intend to dedicate some resources to developing additional Reward items once the Veteran Rewards system is successfully launched. These items are not yet in development, and we are interested in getting feedback on these items from the players.
NOTE: If you are a player with an account age near 48 months, please be aware that when you reach 48 months, you may be presented with the opportunity to choose another reward. The fourth year rewards may not be in production at that time, so if you wish to use that extra reward point on a fourth year reward, you must be sure not to use that point on a first, second, or third year reward!
As a player’s account reaches 48 months of age, that player will receive an additional Reward choice. At a point soon in the future, we are looking to add another tier to the rewards choices, and the following items will become available to 48-month veterans:
Dyeable Spellbook (a special spellbook that comes completely filled with all 64 spells)
Only players whose accounts are 4 years old or older will be able to equip it. It can be dyed using the Leather Dye Tub.
House Decoration Kits (bags containing eight decorative items suitable for use in player-owned houses)
These will be deed-style add-ons. Some will consist of multiple pieces, and they cannot be manipulated using the Interior Decorator’s Toolkit. Others will be single-tile pieces and can be flipped and floated using the Interior Decorator’s Toolkit.
There will be three themed sets to choose from:
Day of the Dead - this set will include Halloween-themed decorations, including a skeleton in a coffin, a pool of fake blood, spiderwebs, skull candles, and scattered hay
Gardener’s Delight - this set consists of several plants and cacti (some potted, some not) and a decorative rock
Tavernkeeper Set - this set includes a large fishing net, suitible as a wall hanging. Additional treasures include dyeable wall-mountable shields, a saddle on a saddlehorse, a large ship’s anchor, and a bar complete with openable half-door
Magic Hat
Intended for emergencies, the user can pull out desperately needed supplies, like a recall scroll, a small number of bandages, a few arrows or bolts, an orange, yellow, or black potion, a few magic reagents, an apple, or even a cute fluffy white bunny rabbit. This stylish treasure can be used once per day.
Melantus
Online Community Coordinator
Ultima Online
Melantus@uo.com
I would only want to add that the house decoration items should be craftable too, dammit. And undead players probably do not like pool of FAKE blood *grins*
More here:
UOboards |
| Hiring new people to UO team. -Videric | |
As there been people leaving the company lately, AE has been busy to hire new ones as well:
I can't stress enough two main things: 1) you guys have been keeping me REALLY busy with the resumes, and 2) we have the most unbelievably educated and qualified fanbase I have ever seen.
If I were filling a team of 50, this would actually be an easier decision. But with only 2 spots, it's exponentially more difficult! So far, I have gone through a huge number of applications, and have made the difficult decisions necessary to pare it down to approximately 20. I hope by the end of this weekend to have it down to approximately 6 or so, and to spend next week conducting interviews. Keep in mind that's a pretty aggressive timeline, and I may need more time depending on how the interview process goes. Of course, this doesn't include any relocation periods, previous jobs' notice, etc. So if you don't see an immediate replacement once Melantus steps out, please don't think we're on some extended hiatus. If things were in any faster gear here, we'd be in hyperspace!
I also want to point out some good news, and that's that some of the other departments here are hiring as well. This works out great at the moment, because I know from many of the resumes I've seen that there are players who would be extremely qualified for these as well!
These opportunities include: Server Programmer, Quality Assurance Director, Senior Internet Developer, and Development Relations Manager. Some of these may not be listed on our site just yet since the opportunities are pretty new, but we'll get them up right away. Check the UO Employment Listings frequently to see the full descriptions of our open positions, and to see if these positions might be something that would appeal to you, and a position in which you could excel.
Many of the applications I have received seem to me to be ultimately qualified for more technical roles as well, so if you've already sent in a resume for one of my positions in Community, and you'd like it considered for one of the other positions here, please send a quick note to uojobs@uo.com, and let us know that! Ideally, if you reattach your resume, that would save us some time in looking it up, since we've had such an influx this week. :)
To wrap up, this is an interesting time. It's difficult to see some of our folks leave, but it's also an opportunity. It's an opportunity for us to get new people in who bring with them a new perspective - one that's full of fresh ideas and is intimately close to the game. And of course, it's an opportunity for some of you to stop working to support your game habit and actually *work* your game habit! :)
Thanks for reading!
______________
Cynthe
Origin Systems
Seems like they have no shortage of people applying *grins*
|
| June 21, Thursday |
| UO Concerns- How do we improve the process? -Videric | |
This was at UOboards:
I'm hearing a lot of feedback on the boards that emailing uoconcerns isn't working. I will tell you all that we have taken disciplinary action up to and including employee termination based on valid complaints that reach us with UO Concerns. I know it is working, but it seems that our customers don't like the process. The main feedback I have heard is that emailing uoconcerns@uo.com
1). Is not working as effectively as it could, and
2). Isn't working in a manner where our customers are satisfied.
So, what do you want to see? Keep in mind that we aren't going to discuss a GM's employment status. The goal of UO Concerns is for our customers to inform us of incidents where employees are not doing their job properly.
If you submit a *valid* mail to uoconcerns, do you receive an answer or any type of acknowledgement? If so, what's wrong with it? How important is it that you receive an automated response stating that we have received your email?
I want our customers to use UO Concerns when they have valid complaints about the conduct of GMs or Advisors, and I want the customers to have confidence in the process. What do we need to do to get us to that point?
Canyon
And comments goes to here:
UOboards |
| Reason why there is no new object art? -Videric | |
Well finally they actually (indirectly) told that they apparently have a problem of updating the object artwork without sending a new CD. In my opinion this would be something worth of trying to fix.
Gumps can be patched. That's a separate system from object artwork.
-Hanse
UO Live Designer
UOboards |
| June 20, Wednesday |
There seems to be some intrest to write a book about UO.
UOboards |
| June 19, Tuesday |
| Three more UO employees leaving -Videric | |
From Stratics:
As reported this morning by Ianstorm.com, Stratics has confirmed that three long time OSI employees will soon be leaving and heading to other pastures. They include Jack "Kal El" Wood, Mike "Scorch" Zupan and Matt "TRasa" Gutierrez.
Having so many people leaving the house makes one think something is not right at EA. Then again, maybe this will bring fresh new ideas to UO as well.
http://uo.stratics.com/
Lum the Mad |
| June 18, Monday |
| Hit Point calculation update -Videric | |
From UOboards:
Hi there, quick update on the Hit Point calculation formula...
One of the concerns I've heard over the new hit point formula surrounds the potential "nerf" of buff/debuff spells and effects. In order to ensure that those spells/effects related to strength (weaken, strength, curse, etc... ) aren't made less useful by the hit point calculation formula currently in concept ( HP = (str+100)/2 ), the buff/debuff effects will also directly modify the target's maximum hit points.
Therefore, imagine we had a target named "Fey" with 50 strength. Under the new formula, Fey's maximum hit points would be 75.
If an object (monster or player) with 100 magery skill were to cast a weaken spell on Fey, his strength would be modified to 39 (-11) and his maximum hit points would be modified to 64 (-11).
If Fey were to gain 1 point of strength while under this effect, his natural strength value would be 51, his natural maximum hit points would be 75 (the formula rounds down), his modified strength (from the weaken spell) would be 40, and his modified maximum hit points would be 64.
Does this adequately address your concerns regarding the "nerf" side-effect of the new formula? Let me know what you think, thanks! =]
-Evocare
Talk here:
UOboards |
| Tales of Traveller now at http://traveller.rper.org/ -Videric | |
That is right, Tales of a Traveller can now be found at http://traveller.rper.org/, although traveller.lemming.org should continue to work as normal, http://traveller.rper.org/ will be the site refered to in links and public.
To clarify, we are staying at the same server and in the same excellent service what Burrator provides, only the domain name will be different. |
I usually do not post player ideas I notice on uoboards, but however this guy clearly been writing all night. I have not got to the bottom of the post, but it seems like the guy had a lot of time in his hands to write all this.
I do not personally agree to all he writes, but the post is worth of looking no matter what you think.
This may load a while... |
| June 17, Sunday |
This was said of different orc types not taking damage with Orc slaying weapons:
That's actually an oversight on our part (much as I hate to admit it) and I'm not sure when we'll be able to correct it. I need to look at that code again.
|
| June 16, Saturday |
The good PR man of OSI/EA leaves the company:
I wanted to talk with the players for a bit, to let you know some information about a change here. I will be leaving my position as Community Coordinator here at Origin/EA to pursue opportunities elsewhere. I have enjoyed my time with Origin/EA, and the UO team has been like a family to me. A lot of really talented people work here, with the full intent of working hard to make UO even better for you – the player.
Before the rumors start spreading about why I am leaving, let me just clear up a few things. I like working with this UO Live team, and I like my job. I have another opportunity, and that’s it. In no way should this be taken as a “sign of impending doom”, or anything else of the sort. Stellerex’s comments about the UO team being larger than ever before are definitely true, and there’s more momentum here now than there has been since I can remember. UO will continue to grow and improve, and there are some really good ideas being considered here. Calandryll’s Event Design team is moving in full force and has only just begun to really shine. More great things are coming from them in the future. Evocare is heading up the Design group, and is a very capable Lead Designer. Prophet is showing his talent and abilities in his Lead Programming position. Cynthe has been working to see that communication with the players remains a vital part of the service, and is stepping up as Community Manager.
This is a good time for UO, because the future is bright. In this industry, people change jobs a lot. You have seen it this past year quite a bit. remember that the online MMORPG business is growing as well, and is bound to have growing pains along the way. The bottom line is: Does the team that supports your game, have a passion for what they do and are they committed to the product? Do they take player feedback, and make changes based on that feedback? I believe the UO team is does just that. TIt’s a good group, and it wasn’t an easy choice to make. Ultima Online – and this industry – will continue to grow, and the lessons I have learned here will always be with me. I will continue to be here for a couple of weeks to help transition this position.
Melantus
Online Community Coordinator
Ultima Online
Melantus@uo.com
Read more at:
UOboards post |
| June 15, Friday |
| History and Society section -Videric | |
Because History section is getting larger and larger with new BNN articles I decided to dicide History as it's own section.
So now we have History and Society section, hopefully they proof to be useful. |
| Next UO3d Publish to have huge improvements? -Videric | |
From Tajima:
We're still on track for releasing a major new publish by the end of the month that will add some exciting new content to Ilshenar. (However, the seahorse won't be part of this publish.)
There's also some artwork and code base improvements in development and QA for the Third Dawn client that should be well received.
It'll be a fun summer!
-Tajima
Hopefully so, the client definately has potential but is somewhat slower compared to 2d one, specially at player house areas. |
| June 8, Friday |
| More updates to Lore section -Videric | |
| I went over some archives of BNN and fixed my timeline a bit, as a result there are several new articles to spread more light to the history. |
| June 7, Thursday |
From Gromm:
Players will now be able to purchase and own a Barkeep, that can be placed in the player's house. The barkeeps will serve as a method for players to support and announce their own events and quests. The barkeeps will have the following properties:
- Saying "news" to a barkeep will give a scenario hint, just like a town crier.
- The "tip rumor" will be optional and customizeable by the player owner. Amounts of gold under 50 gold will cause the Barkeep to speak this rumor. Amounts over 50 gold will be returned.
- In addition to the one tip rumor, players can put 3 "oracle style" rumors with keywords on the Barkeep. (oracle style rumors are spoken once certain keywords are said by the player. The rumor and linking keyword are added to the Barkeep by the player owner).
- There will be no limitations on what style of housing the Barkeeps can be placed within.
Barkeeps will be customizeable like a player vendor, with clothing/dress options.
- The Barkeep owner can make the Barkeep male or female.
- The Barkeep owner can choose another title for the Barkeep other than "Barkeep", from an list of between 30-50 different job titles.
- Two Barkeeps will be allowed per home.
Barkeeps will be in the various taverns throughout the cities, to support the scenarios as well, with the scenario rumors. However, players will not be able to add rumors to these barkeeps.
Links
The Design document
UO boards post
UO boards post
|
| June 2, Saturday |
| If we cannot get it for free, we can get it cheap! -Videric | |
As a popular trend among business today, EA has decided to follow it and have the people from poor countries to do the work for them for 1/3 pay that it requires in US/EU. The new international Support Advisors are just that.
Please note that this probably does not need to mean a lower quality of service, as these people might actually be more motivated than average customer support person in Europe/US. However one can always question the morals as there probably is people needing jobs in US and EU.
Read more at:
UO.com announcement
Lum the Mad
|
| June 1, Friday |
| Suggest what sort of Official quest YOU would like! -Videric | |
More news from uo-europe site:
Quest Suggest
In a bid to provide the player community with increased numbers of quests suited more to their dreams of a fantasy ideal, we at UO-Europe would like to invite all our readers to submit ideas, requests and suggestions for future long or short term quests.
Perhaps you've got a line of fiction you'd like to see come to pass, or maybe you've got an event or storyline you'd like to publicise further, either way we want to hear from you. As a part of our continued commitment to quests, events and in-game fiction on the European shards we're at your disposal.
Simply fill in the form below with the details of your idea and we'll give it the attention it deserves. Sadly we cannot guarantee to create or reply to all the suggestions, but we can guarantee that we'll read them all.
I tried to get confirmation from IGM Talos if you can suggest an event to sponsor (such an event you can take part too), however I did not get reply. So I presume the Quests will be run by IGM only.
Here is a direct link:
http://www.uo-europe.com/quest1.asp
They still have this site's name wrong at the links, maybe I should ask about that... |
The site has following note:
Euroshard News Network
Fed up with other guilds' events getting all the headlines? Carrying out amazing quests and events with no glimmer of glory? Then step this way, we can help you achieve the fame you so rightly deserve.
Publicise your adventures throughout the whole of the Euroshard News Network and achieve levels of fame and notoriety you previously thought unattainable! Send us the details of your events and exploits and we'll announce them far and wide ensuring you get the publicity you so rightly deserve.
Simply fill in the form below with the details of your quest or adventure and reap the benefits of the Euroshard News Network. Unfortunately we cannot guarantee that we'll display all the news we receive, but you can be sure we'll read them all.
I only hope that they have better name than the Horrible "Euroshard News Network", it is so unfitting to fantasy and so un-imagitive. I hope it is only project name. However the idea is great, to provide official fiction site for Europe is a great!
http://www.uo-europe.com/events1.asp |
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