|
 Test Center Has Been Updated | |
| Posted on Thursday, September 4, 2008, 4:08 PM EDT by Larisa (GeneralNews) |
Posted to uoherald.com: 
Test Center Has Been Updated Jeremy Dalberg
04 Sep 2008 16:12:31
UPDATED Noon EST 9/5: Updated several items in the patch notes:
- Some general wording clarifications for the Arcane Circle change and the Commodity Deed box.
- Removed the Nature's Fury fix (it was unsuccessful and will require more tweaking)
- Added a note about the Cacti and Brazier rewards
- Added a few more possible carriers of the new seeds.
UPDATED 4:15PM EST: Due to some unforeseen dead hamsters, the client patch will not make it out til Monday. Again, please do not report cliloc errors on TC1 as bugs - they're expected until the client is published! TC1 has been updated with Publish 55. NOTE: Until the next client patch is released later today, you will see cliloc errors in many areas. Please do NOT report these as bugs! To see the full list of changes, click Here |
| [ Discuss This Article ] |
| FoF: Almost There! | |
| Posted on Saturday, August 30, 2008, 10:20 AM EDT by Larisa (GeneralNews) |
Posted to uoherald.com's Five on Friday: 
FoF: Almost There!
Jeremy Dalberg
29 Aug 2008 22:01:11 A few pre-Town Hall announcements and such, for your reading pleasure! Pre-Town Hall FoF
Once again we're saving the weekend goodness for the Town Hall - and I think this time it will satisfy your cravings. We do still have some announcements and such below!
--
QA Request of the Week
QA has been getting a fair number of bugs about players being unable to get their pets to guard them. One thing to consider is that you can only have 5 pets guarding you at once - and if you set a pet to guard and then stable it, it still counts toward the 5. If you're having this problem, go to the stable and pull out any stabled pets and tell them "stop," then re-stable them. If that doesn't solve the problem, please call a GM in-game so they can look at your individual character and see what's going on.
--
What's To Come:
The Publish 55 awesomeness is so incredibly awesome that, despite our diligent efforts, it just won't fit into one publish. We're still on track to get it on Test Center next week, and it will have the end of Spring Cleaning (no more turn-in NPCs, although you can still claim your rewards,) the Gardening system updates, the RoT changes for Siege, a number of bugfixes, and one other eensy update that's only about a year late - 10-year Veteran rewards!
The next Live Events phase is the awesomeness that simply cannot be contained, and we'll be getting that out to you just as soon as we find a box big enough to hold it.
As for the rest of what's to come - well, the Town Hall is going to cover a lot of that. Keep an eye out for updates and reports from the attendees!
--
Town Hall News:
The Town Hall is in two days - will you be there? Check out the details here and please do RSVP. Also check the Fansite News section for details on Whispering Rose Radio's broadcast of the show - if you can't make it to Seattle, surely you can make it to the internet!
We're aware of issues people seem to be having with the RSVP site - if it's not working for you (for this or any other Town Hall) just show up anyway! We only use the RSVP page to get an idea of how much food to order - there's no "list" or anything you need to be on.
--
Fansite News:
Here are a bunch of neat sites to look at, guilds looking for members, and player-run events going on - be sure to check them out!
First, here is a general UO site you may not have seen: --
For all the adventurers out there:
The Ultima Online Travelogues and Adventurer's Guide are available for your entertainment. Here you'll find stories and screenshots of many UO adventures, and a comprehensive guide including detailed maps of all landmasses, dungeons and Points Of Interest in Sosaria: Click here!
--
Guild recruitment!
--
The United Pirates of Catskills, the first and oldest pirate role playing guild in UO ever, is recruiting members! For details, check the United Pirates website here.
--
This past month, the Ancient Order of Elves celebrated 10 amazing years of roleplaying on the Pacific Shard. It has taken the toil and time of many great UO players to make this milestone possible, and they would like to thank the residents of Pacific who have been so supportive over the years. Celebration will take place on Mondays starting September 8th at 7:30pst at the Tel'Ereg ar' Cu Tavern located at coordinates 128o25'N 55o15'E. Gates will be provided in Luna and New Haven.
Visit www.elvenorder.com for membership information or contact Joy via e-mail: Joy@elvenorder.com
--
And last but not least, live events!
--
Houses and Castles presents; UO Halloween Deco Contest 2008!
Dust off the deco tool, it's time for an overhaul!
H&C is hosting a Halloween competition - create NEW, fresh Halloween inspired deco. no bats, no witches - unless its presented in a new way - full house deco, or a tiny new 'something'.
Is your cauldron bubbling over with ideas? Do the flames of the pits of Hades flicker in your eyes when you grip a deco tool? Do the snip of scissors make you think 'Just how many goza's do they NEED?'
Submissions accepted from September 1st midnight, GMT (england) to September 10th, midnight GMT. You can send up to 3 submission, but each must be sent in their own email.
Send submissions to; uoweendecocontest08@googlemail.com .
Please read the full rules, so your entry is not disqualified. You can find the rules here
Voting starts September 11th. The voting place will be announced just before voting can start. Prizes will be awarded to the top winners!
Thank you! And much luck to all participants!
--
Lake Superior Community's weekly event Schedule
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Community Meet'n Greet
Date: Monday, September 1st
Time: 7:30PM Central
Location: Skara Brae Community Center - located next to the bank
Hosts: Airmid / Sabina Nikolai
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vesper Museum Exhibit tours
Date: Tuesday, September 2nd
Time: 8:00PM Central
Starting Location: Skara Brae Community Center - located next to the bank
Host: Taeara Mi'Aken
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Peerless hunt (Mondain's Legacy Required)
Date: Wednesday, September 3rd
Time: 8:00PM Central
Starting Location: Skara Brae Community Center - located next to the bank
Host: Taeara Mi'Aken
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Scavenger hunt
Date: Thursday, September 4th
Time: 8:00PM Central
Starting Location: Skara Brae Community Center - located next to the bank
Host: Misty
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ilshenar Champion Spawn hunt
Date: Friday, September 5th
Time: 9:00PM Central
Starting Location: Skara Brae Community Center - located next to the bank
Host: Taeara Mi'Aken
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
Saturday - August 30th - Once again the road crew of Whispering Rose Radio [WRR] will be broadcasting live the UO Town Hall and this time it’s from Seattle, WA. If you're not able to be there in person then join the rest of the staff for 'party-time' fun at the special WRR Dave & Busters site located on Lake Superior. Bring your ‘dying to know questions’ and we will submit them for you! Click here for location map starting at 3pm Pacific. *If you’re not able to be in game or at the UO Town Hall a tape of the broadcast will be available on UO Forums.
WRR may also be broadcasting from the PAX 2008 (Penny Arcade Expo) sometime over the weekend from Seattle. The Penny Arcade Expo is a Video and computer gaming exposition and convention, with a video game showcase floor, gaming industry panels, movies, plenty of room for console, PC, and even tabletop (board/card/role-play) gaming, plus two nights of concerts featuring top geek, nerd, and gaming bands. If you are coming remember to bring your handheld game device, your card decks, wear your best geekery or video game character costume to meet interesting people and play interesting games with them. Tune in for more details as we won’t know until we get there and double check the technicalities.
~~~~~~~~~
Sunday - August 31st - 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 WRRadio.
~~~~~~~~~
Thursday - September 4th - The Tazz and Keg's Underground show returns to the air at 7pm PST - 10pm EST on a NEW night with a CONTEST to kick off their return. They are running a contest for the funniest videogame story in 80 words or less. Listeners will be eligible to win a $25.00 gift certificate to Gamestop if their submissions are read on air. They will be taking submissions until September 25, 2008 and will be announcing the winner on the October 2nd show. Tune into the Tazz and Keg's Underground show on Thursday night for complete details.
~~~~~~~~~
*Friday Night Shard Chatter, Saturdays’ Brush Limpaw, the bi-weekly WRR Casino Night, and the Deal or No Deal ~ 'UO Style' will return over the next few Saturdays. Watch for next weeks WRR 'News' bulletin with more details.
Have a great time this weekend playing Ultima Online and listening to Whispering Rose Radio [WRR] ~ see you all on the flip side.
--
--
I'm in Seattle tonight, and cannot wait for the Town Hall tomorrow!
- Jeremy
|
| [ Discuss This Article ] |
| FoF: Anticipation Is Good For You | |
| Posted on Friday, August 22, 2008, 10:32 PM EDT by Larisa (GeneralNews) |
Posted to uoherald.com's Five on Friday:
FoF: Anticipation Is Good For You
Jeremy Dalberg
22 Aug 2008 17:16:10
"Can we get more red healers in Felucca?"
Yes! We had a bit of extra space since we rearranged the schedule for this publish, so we've tweaked the spawn rate for Priests of Mondain in Felucca upwards - specifically, they should spawn more often around moongates.
--
"Why did I get a suspension for having a link to a website in my profile?"
First, the relevent bit from the Rules of Conduct:
"With the exception of the sale of in-game items for in-game items or services, you may not market, promote or advertise anything, or make any other form of solicitation (including pyramid schemes and chain letters) through the Ultima Online service or Ultima Online web site."
This isn’t a blanket ban on links - links to guild websites may be just fine, for example - but most sites advertise, promote, or market something - even if it’s just running banner ads. Your safest bet is to avoid bringing the outside world into UO - if you have a website that’s UO-related (and not entirely about making someone a profit) - by all means submit it for inclusion in the fansite section of the FoF! (Remember, email jdalberg AT ea DOT com, and I'm happy to take guild recruitment ads and stuff too. Just make sure you proofread your copy, because I will only give it a quick once-over when I post it!)
--
Thieves' Guild Bug Update
While we still haven't actually reproduced the bug, we found a bit of related code that definitely wasn't supposed to be there and we're reverting it out in Publish 56 - for everyone having trouble joining the guild, we eagerly await your reports once this publish goes live.
--
QA Request of the Week
QA has seen some complaints that plants don't always behave as intended - sometimes they lose health or die suddenly even when they're being properly taken care of - and they would love to see some detailed reports from people who've experienced the problem. Please include things like what the expected result was, what the actual result was, what kind of seed was used, whether fertile dirt was used, and as many other details as could possibly be relevant. Thanks!
--
What's To Come:
We're finalizing all the goodness for next week's Town Hall, and working hard at getting Publish 55 to you shortly thereafter. If you're remotely in range of Seattle, I strongly advise you to show up!
--
Town Hall News:
If you make one Town Hall this year, make this one! Check out the details here and please do RSVP.
--
Fansite News:
An event on Chesapeake:
Silvervale is having its Bi-Weekly Ball simply called Silvervale's Lord and Lady Ball. Location is at Silvervale.
Runes will be placed in and around Luna Bank. We will have a DJ from Whispering Rose Radio. Ball starts at 10pm EST and ends at midnight. Will also have gates to the ball at Luna bank for those who can't find it otherwise.
One on Great Lakes:
Hello,
Monday night 8pm Central Time we will be playing Let's Make a Deal at the castle. There will be lots of cash and prizes. Be sure to come join the fun. Look for gates at West Brit and Luna Banks.
Will
UOForums has an interview with our Development Manager, Cal, here. Check it out before you see him live next week! They also have an interview with Escaflowne/Drew, the GM of the Vesper [-V-] guild on Europa here - check it out!
And, last but not least, Whispering Rose Radio's weekly schedule:
WRR has exciting fun with Shard Chatter and more ...
Friday - Aug. 22nd - Join TorAnn, Dr. Lil and the panel for Shard Chatter starting at 7pm PST, 10pm EST on WRR. This week we will be interviewing and chatting with a very special guest, Zig Zag, Stratics Communications Director/UO Associate Editor. Our other topics will include Doom tips and tricks plus player run events. The weekly Shard Chatter show finishes with the "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 via the Whispering Rose Radio chat room (link on the website) or by ICQ (ICQ numbers can be found on the contact DJ's link on www.wrrad.com website.
~~~~~~~~~
Saturday - Aug. 23rd - Its time for the ever popular Brush LimpPaw show starting at 2pm PT, 5pm ET on WRR where listeners hear his Universal Outlook on current events as only he can deliver it.
~~~~~~~~~
Saturday - Aug. 23rd - Its Time for Deal or No Deal ~ 'UO Style' on the EUROPA shard starting at 3pm PST, 6pm EST (11pm GMT). Participants will be playing for 10 Million this week and of course there will be 5 - 250k door prize drawings *remember, you must be there to win*. For a map of the WRR DoND location on EUROPA ... CLICK HERE.
~~~~~~~~~
Sunday - Aug. 24th - With over 4 years in business, the Pacific Auction House (located just East of the Luna Moongate) continues to bring players even more fantastic AUCTION deals. Plan to get there early for best seating. Auction starts at 12pm PST, 3pm EST and is broadcasted live on WRRadio.
~~~~~~~~~
The WRR road crew is heading to Seattle this week to broadcast live the UO Town Hall on Saturday, Aug. 30th. If you're attending the Town Hall stop by the 'booth' and say hi, and if you're not able to be there 'live' be sure to join the rest of the radio team at the Dave & Buster's house located on Lake Superior.
~~~~~~~~~
Have fun this weekend playing Ultima Online while listening to the live action broadcasting from WRR ~ see you all on the flip side.
~~~~~~~~
--
Have a good weekend, everyone!
- Jeremy
|
| [ Discuss This Article ] |
| FoF: Green Things Growing | |
| Posted on Sunday, August 17, 2008, 7:05 AM EDT by Larisa (GeneralNews) |
Posted to uoherald.com's Five on Friday:
FoF: Green Things Growing
Jeremy Dalberg
15 Aug 2008 18:29:41 This week, we have a special guest performance from Sakkarah as our resident Green Thumb. "WHow do I get access to the Crystal and Shadow housing tiles? I can't find it on uogamecodes.com."
The Crystal and Shadow tiles are only accessible to players who have the 9th Anniversary box - which is very hard to find right now. Furthermore, the actual housing tile tool tells you to go get it on uogamecodes.com, but... it's not there! This is something we're actually working on - the message isn't lying to you, it's just early. At some point in the foreseeable future, you'll have a way to get access to those tiles without having to raid the back room at Gamestop.
--
"Why do I not get Compassion for doing escorts in New Haven?"
This was a change that went in as part of Publish 54 that was apparently unclear, as we've been getting a lot of bug reports on it - for the record, those escorts are not currently intended to give Compassion. This is actually consistent with the original design for Compassion, as the New Haven escorts are not particularly challenging (you can see the original design here.)
--
"Why did my bonded pack animal disappear after I logged off?"
QA has been getting bug reports on this, and wanted to bring it up. Pack animals do NOT auto-stable if they have items in them - bonded or not. In order for the animal to auto-stable, the packs must be completely empty. Otherwise, the pet will stay in the world, losing loyalty and eventually going wild, if it doesn't get killed first.
--
Thieves' Guild Bug Update
QA is still trying to find the cause of this bug - we haven't gotten a reproducible case yet. We are continuing to work on it, and please do continue sending in bug reports with as much info as you can - if we can find a common thread, we should be able to pin the bug down.
--
[insert question about the new plants here]
Since the new plants are Sakkarah's babies, she's collected the questions you've been asking about them and written up a comprehensive response. Enjoy!
Why can’t we cross-pollinate the plants?
"The plan had been to allow cross-pollination but, after looking into it, a number of factors made me decide against it. First, drafting the right cross-pollination chart for this many new plants would require a significant amount of time. But assuming we had delayed publishing these additions to draft that chart, we would then meet issue #2: Art. I actually took a stab at the chart, but aside from a handful of the new plants, there is no possible logical correlation between the existing plants and the new ones. By no stretch of the imagination would combining an existing plant to one of the new seeds result in another one of the new plants. In order to get that 5th generation, new art would be required which isn’t possible at the current time."
Why not make them a separate set of plants that can cross-pollinate within that set?
"This was a valid suggestion but the issue is the same. Many of the new plants have nothing in common with each other and no cross-pollination chart would make sense. I suspect this was one of the reasons they weren’t added in the first pass to begin with. Again, this is a case of new art required..."
Why don’t the plants self-pollinate to produce seeds?
"This was a design decision. While the code is complex (way more than just telling it new vs. old), it wouldn’t take too much time to allow the plants to produce seeds. However, since these plants cannot cross-pollinate or give resources, if we allow them to produce seeds the market will be flooded with the most desirable plants within 3 to 4 weeks. And in 2 months from now, only a handful of people will bother with the plants anymore and definitely nobody will be hunting the seeds as everyone and their brother will have tons in store already. By limiting their availability and randomizing the drop of the seeds, it will make the most desirable plants rarer and thus more valuable while also expanding the life span of this mini-game."
Rare seeds (bonsai) didn’t retain our attention too long. Why would these be any different?
"From the start, the interest in the bonsai, because of the art type, was doomed to have a limited life span. There was really only 1 new plant (the bonsai) which came in 4 slightly different shapes and colors, all meant mostly as indoor-type décor that you would place on a table. Its small size also didn’t allow for much creativity in use. The seeds for each bonsai were also uniquely labeled so you knew immediately which one of the bonsai you were getting, which isn’t the case with the new plants. Aside from the cocoa tree (fragrant seed), all 15 other plants will have the same seed name (peculiar seed). Most people will have less than 5 bonsai in their houses but will have an insane number of the other bigger decorative plants which can be used to shape original gardens. The new plants are mainly outdoors plants and I can promise you that in most cases, you will want way more than one of each type."
Are you saying I only have 1 chance out of 16 of getting the seed I need?
"Not quite, but each time will indeed be a dice roll. There are 12 different monsters that will spawn the seeds. The plants and monsters have been divided into 4 groups: Monster Group A, B, C and D each count 3 monsters, then we have Plant Group 1 to Plant Group 4 that each contains 4 new plants. All 12 monsters will spawn fragrant seeds, but monsters of Group A will also spawn the peculiar seeds from Plant Group 1, while monsters of Group B will also spawn the peculiar seeds from Plant Group 2 and so on. So basically, when hunting monsters from Group A, you have 1 chance out of 5 of getting a specific plant from Group 1. Ditto for any Monster Group and their matching Plant Group. Note that you will never get a Group 1 seed from a Group B monster, etc."
Which monsters do they drop on and what’s the drop rate?
"You will have to figure out which monsters they spawn on! But I can tell you they will spawn on 3 creatures that dwell in the Tokuno Islands, on 1 bug-type creature, on 1 creature found in Despise (among other places), on 1 swamp creature, on 1 undead, on 1 humanoid spellcaster, on 1 arachnid, on 1 karma sensitive creature in Ilshenar, on 1 a compact-sized creature and last but not least, on 1 creature that lurks in the Twisted Wealds. The drop rate is 50% chance there will be no seed, 15% chance of a fragrant seed and 35% chance of a random peculiar seed."
So now my crafter is forced to hunt?
"You can hunt them yourself or buy your seeds from hunters, except for the Cocoa Tree that will produce seeds and resources. Some of the monsters will be difficult for crafters, but some others will be reasonably accessible to less combat-oriented characters."
Why are we not getting some of the plants we wanted?
"The plants had been selected long before this was ever made public. But despite that, after reading the comments/wishes on the boards, I can assure you that the majority of gardeners will be very pleased with some of the new plants. That said, if you look at the Inside UO art files, you can see that a lot of plants (mainly trees) are in 2 pieces (bare tree, leaves). In order to give you such plants, we would need to make them into a deed or get new art. So for the purpose of gardening, these plants are excluded. Which means, sorry folks, there will be no pine tree. :P"
Why are these plants only available in plain colors?
"Because after testing what they would look like rehued same as the colored plants from the original set, I didn’t want to be held responsible for a worldwide eyesore epidemic."
Why are there no additional resources from these new plants aside from the Cocoa Pulp?
"Adding new plants wasn’t in the planning. Could there and should there be new resources? Absolutely! Adding them to the system isn’t overly complex and could possibly happen at some point in time. Some pretty cool ideas were thrown out there on the forums. But this honestly isn’t on the radar at the moment and you guys will understand better what we’re so busy with at the next Town Hall!"
So what are the new plants?
"I’m soooooooo NOT telling you! (yes, I’m a tease :D). But seriously, when gardening first came out, the most fun I had was eagerly waiting for my babies to make their entry in the world. Would it be a boy? A girl? Would it look like Mom or Dad? Whose eyes? Hair? You get the drift... The speculation is half the fun!"
--
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! Also please note, the position is in Fairfax, VA.
--
What's To Come:
There's been a bit of a change in the schedule. In order to make sure everything that is going in to Publish 55 is as good as it can be, we're delaying it by about two more weeks and rolling the content from Publish 56 in with it. This means that you do have an extra couple of weeks to finish up any Spring Cleaning you need to do, and we'll be giving more details out as we get the last kinks worked out. I've seen what is coming, and I can say with confidence that it's going to be worth the wait.
--
Town Hall News:
The Seattle Town Hall is much on our minds - will you be there? Check out the details here and please do RSVP.
--
Fansite News:
UOGuide has some news and links of interest:
UOGuide has achieved another milestone: 4,000 pages! We would like to thank the many members of the UO community who have contributed to UOGuide over the past year and a half that helped us get to where we are today. We would also like to invite all in the UO community to contribute as we begin our trek toward 5,000 pages!
For those visiting UOGuide, be sure to check out the following sections:
• Spring Cleaning 2008 - Get details on the latest turn-ins
• Royal Council Massacre - Get tips and walkthroughs for the latest events
• Five on Friday - Check out our full archive of all the Five on Fridays, including the one you're reading right now!
KR players and modders, here's one for you!
Kingdom Reborn Modders Exchange now open!
With help from Zym Dragon and Dermott of LS, Illandril has completed work on Modders Exchange, a Subversion/Trac site for Kingdom Reborn modders and custom UI users. Modders Exchange aims to take what is already capable through UOSkins.com and the various forums in the UO community, and expand upon it to make it much easier for KR mod authors to collaborate with each other, distribute their skins to other players, and get feedback in the form of bugs and enhancement requests from those who use their skin.
The Subversion end of things provides a version control system to make it easier for modders to work together on the same skin, for a single modder to keep track of their own previous work on a skin, and for mods in an untested state to be easily obtained by those willing to test before a zipped release is provided for the general population.
The Trac end of things provides bug, enhancement request, and other task tracking. If a non-modding player wants something added to a specific skin, they can open up a bug or enhancement about it; if a modder wants help from another modder to solve some problem, they can open up a task for them; if a modder wants to make a note for themselves to complete something, they can open up a task for themselves.
There is also a small wiki with various details to help users, a basic forum that can be used for discussion about KR mods, and a package download page where zipped releases of skins can be obtained.
Dermott of LS
Whispering Rose Radio's events:
'It's like a weekend in Vegas' with game shows, gambling, and weddings!! Join WRR for a jammed packed fun filled weekend which includes:
Friday - Aug. 15th - Tune into WRR and hear the wedding of DJ Ugly Johnny and DJ Bam Bam on the Pacific shard at 5pm PT, 8pm ET with DJ Bearfoot as officiator.
~~~~~~~~~
Friday - Aug. 15th - After the wedding join TorAnn, TorAnn and Dr. Lil for Shard Chatter Friday starting at 7pm PT, 10pm ET on WRR. Topics this week will be PVP and red characters, what peerless is your favorite and why, plus rares and the community. The weekly show finishes with the "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 via the Whispering Rose Radio chat room (link on the website) or ICQ (ICQ numbers can be found on the www.wrrad.com website).
~~~~~~~~~
Saturday - Aug. 16th - Its time for the ever popular Brush LimpPaw show starting at 2pm PT, 5pm ET on WRR where listeners hear his Universal Outlook on current events as only he can deliver it.
~~~~~~~~~
Saturday - Aug. 16th - Deal or NO Deal 'UO Style' is back and ready to celebrate its 100th show by giving lucky players the opportunity to win gold on the shard of their choice (1/3 Siege). This special 100th show will include 5 - 500K door prizes along with a 1 Million door prize (must be present to win) plus 6 opportunities to win 10 Million!!! Join the fun on the Pacific shard starting at 3pm PT, 6pm ET. Click here for map of location and more details.
~~~~~~~~~
Saturday - Aug. 16th - After the WRR Deal or No Deal show (about 5:30pm PT, 8:30 ET) catch a ride to the Yew Park in Felucca where you can witness and hear the wedding of DJ Pantherbabe and Freak Show of Pacific with DJ Pastor Matthew officiating the ceremony.
~~~~~~~~~
Saturday - Aug. 16th - After the wedding its time for WRR Casino night starting at 7pm PT, 10pm ET on Pacific. Play games like Black Jack, Hi or Low, and everyone's favorite ... Lich Ball!! If you're not from Pacific no worries! DJ Sandman will exchange gold on your shard for gold on Pacific and transfer your winnings back to your home shard ... FREE!! Click here for map location and detail information.
~~~~~~~~~
Sunday - Aug. 17th - With over 4 years in business, the Pacific Auction House (located just East of the Luna Moongate) continues to bring you more fantastic AUCTION deals. Plan to get there early for best seating. Auction starts at 12pm PST, 3pm EST and is broadcasted live on WRRadio.
~~~~~~~~~
Have a fun weekend playing Ultima Online and tune into the live action broadcasting from WRR ~ see you all on the flip side.
~~~~~~~~
And a few events on Pacific!
--
Must be summertime on the Pacific shard ... Love is in the air!!
~~~~~~~~~
Friday, August 15th - Ugly Johnny & Bam Bam joyfully invites everyone to share in their happiness as they unite in marriage at 5pm Pacific, 8pm Eastern in the Wedding Chapel located on Pacific in Luna, Malas. Click here for invitation and directions to chapel.
~~~~~~~~~
Saturday, August 16th - Wedding Bells Are Ringing ... Freak Show and Panther invites everyone to share in the celebration of their marriage at 5:30pm Pacific, 8:30pm Eastern at the Pacific Yew Park in Felucca. Reception will follow.
Click here for invitation and directions to Yew Park.
One from Asuka!
Britannia Bibliothek(=BB) offers an event promoting fund on Asuka shard.
BB offers "BB event-fund" to a group, who carries out lotteries or contests in events on Asuka shard, once a month.
- Awards total: 200K GP
- Supplementary prizes: a Horned runic sawing-kit and a clothing bless deed
Conditions:
- The group who receives this fund should post about the event on the event corner of EA Japan\'s official Website.
- The group should accept applications for the lotteries or contests publicly.
- The group should have objective, disinterested, cogent criteria for election.
- The group should apportion offered awards and supplementary prizes appropriately to winners.
For example: 1st winner - 100K GP and a horned runic kit, 2nd winner - 70K GP and a clothing bless deed, 3rd winner - 30K GP - etc.
See Britannia Bibliothek for further details!
Britannia Bibliothek: www.britain.sakura.ne.jp
Manager: athos
--
Have a good weekend, everyone!
- Jeremy
|
| [ Discuss This Article ] |
| FoF: Parrying and Potting | |
| Posted on Friday, August 8, 2008, 6:43 PM EDT by Larisa (GeneralNews) |
Posted to uoherald.com's Five on Friday:
FoF: Parrying and Potting
Jeremy Dalberg
08 Aug 2008 18:14:50 Some technical stuff, some clarifications on changes from 54, and more! "Why am I not getting GGS gains on Parrying?"
This question came from a long-term UO player - me. I'd been fighting a lot of lower-level critters - Lizardmen, Earthies, etc - putting together my Virtue suit, and realized I hadn't gotten so much as a single GGS gain - not only on the lower-end critters, but on the Ogre Lords and Drakes I'd tackled as well. That seemed odd, so I dragged Leurocian through the code with me to figure out why.
Parrying is a difficulty-based skill, which means you have to be performing actions of a certain range of difficulty to have a chance to gain. There's an explanation of difficulty-based skills and skillgain here - Parrying, specifically, uses a focus of 100 instead of 50, but otherwise that description applies. The "difficulty" in this case is the monsters' percentage chance to hit you. (You can check out the hit chance formula here.)
All math aside, if you're not getting Parrying skill gains (GGS or otherwise,) you're either fighting monsters that are too hard - in which case you need to reduce their chance to hit, by raising your own DCI or by using HLA gear - or too easy - in which case you can remove DCI/HLA gear or use a weapon you're less proficient in. In my case I just dropped my sword and let the earthie take a swing, and I got a gain right away.
--
"Why is it now you have to release the chest to take an item out of a pouch?"
This was a fix for an exploit (that I won't describe, of course) having to do with getting way too many lockdowns. We're going to revisit this fix in the future to try to find a more elegant solution, but we needed to take care of the exploit.
--
"Why can I only get a level 4 Arcane Focus even with five or more people?"
This was an intended (if undocumented) change from the last publish. I talked to Draconi about it, and it is intended - the change was made to allow the design team some greater flexibility with Arcane Focus in the future. So at the moment it's a definite nerf, but there will be an upside a little further down the road.
--
"When is the ROT scaling on Siege going to be fixed?"
How does Publish 55 sound? :)
We're testing a new set of numbers internally now, and we're hoping to get it on a Test Center with a Siege backup so y'all can try it out and see how it feels. To give you a rough idea of the current plan (and start the debate boiling,) the time to get from 70-120 has been reduced by about a third, and the time to reach the stat cap has been reduced by about the same proportion.
--
"When is Spring Cleaning going to end?"
Consider this your two-week notice - we're currently shooting to turn Spring Cleaning off the third week of August. (It's tied to the publish, though, so if that gets delayed for any reason, you'll get more time to sweep those last few corners.)
When we turn it off, what will happen is the NPCs that currently accept items and hand out tickets will go away. The reward box that accepts tickets and gives prizes will stick around for a while longer to give everyone a chance to use up their points.
--
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! Also please note, the position is in Fairfax, VA.
--
What's To Come:
We're firmly stuck in that time-between-publishes that everyone loves so much. The current plan is for Publish 55 to hit TC next week, but this is a good weekend to work on any Spring Cleaning collection you've been putting off, gardeners may want to lay in extra supplies of fertile dirt (the new plant types are up to 15 now, not 10!) and the more martial among us should be certain to polish their weapons and perfect their spells - while there is a lull in the battle right now, the war is not yet over...
--
Town Hall News:
The Seattle Town Hall is much on our minds - will you be there? Check out the details here and please do RSVP.
--
Fansite News:
Whispering Rose Radio's events:
Some of the highlights this weekend on Whispering Rose Radio include ...
~~~~~~~~~
Friday - Aug. 8th - Join TorAnn, Dr. Lil and PantherBabe for UO Shard Chatter starting at 7pm PST, 10pm EST on WRR. Listen and participate with UO players chatting about this week's game topics. At the end of the show hear this weeks contributions to the "You know you have been playing UO too long when..." segment where hilarious endings are presented by UO listeners. Feel free to send yours in (ICQ numbers can be found on the www.wrrad.com website).
~~~~~~~~~
Sunday - Aug. 9th - The Pacific Auction House (located just East of the Luna Moongate) continues after 4 great years to bring you more fantastic deals. Get there early for best seating. Auction starts at 12pm PST, 3pm EST and is broadcasted live on WRRadio.
~~~~~~~~~
*Deal or No Deal ~ 'UO Style' returns next Saturday to Pacific at 3pm PST, 6pm EST with its 100th show. Watch for next weeks 'News' bulletin for full details on the fabulous celebration in store for all UO players .
~~~~~~~~
Enjoy the weekend playing Ultima Online and tune in to hear the live broadcasts from WRR ~ see you all on the flip side.
~~~~~~~~~~
And a few events on Sonoma!
--
Friday, August 8th - Kick off the weekend with laughter and fun during the PAS monthly social with Twisted Rulez Mongbat Darts and the So U Think U'r Funny contest starting at 6pm Pacific, 9pm Eastern on the 3rd floor of the PAS Auction & Vendor house in Luna. Click here for contest rules and details.
Friday, August 8th - After the monthly social, PAS rocks Sonoma with great deals during its monthly AUCTION starting at 7pm Pacific, 10pm Eastern on the first floor of the PAS Auction & Vendor house, Luna. Check here for more information.
Sunday, August 9th - Wedding bells are ringing for Lord Richard Cypher and Lady Wild Flower as they are united in the Caerlton Chapel of Love at 1pm Pacific, 4pm Eastern. Ceremony is open to the public and reception immediately follows on the roof of the PAS Auction & Vendor house in Luna. For invitation & details click here.
--
Have a good weekend, everyone!
- Jeremy
|
| [ Discuss This Article ] |
| Accounts Terminated | |
| Posted on Monday, August 4, 2008, 4:38 PM EDT by Larisa (GeneralNews) |
Posted to uoherald.com: 
Accounts Terminated Jeremy Dalberg
04 Aug 2008 13:25:35 Over the weekend, a number of accounts associated with creating and trading duped items have been banned. We take all forms of cheating extremely seriously, especially cheats that affect the in game economy and devalue the hard work of honest players. We will never stop investigating and solving these issues, and appreciate very much those of you who contribute to the fight against cheating. If your account was affected and you need more information, please fill out the form Here
|
| [ Discuss This Article ] |
| FoF: Home Again | |
| Posted on Friday, August 1, 2008, 6:21 PM EDT by Larisa (GeneralNews) |
Posted to uoherald.com's Five on Friday:
FoF: Home Again
Jeremy Dalberg
01 Aug 2008 16:51:36 Melissa's goodies, love for gardeners, and more! "What loot does Melissa drop?"
I realize this is going to be obsolete almost as soon as I post it, but y'all did ask, and I did find out the answer. Melissa drops two unique items - the Pearl Necklace and Melissa's Cloak - plus a 25k point Spring Cleaning ticket. But the other loot she drops is Peerless-level, which includes rare crafting materials, set armor, artifacts and other items - AND Dark Father-intensity random loot, PLUS a chance to drop ML minor arties. All in all, that's a lot of loot.
--
"Can the new seeds (announced at the Town Hall) be cross-pollinated?"
No - none of the new seeds can be cross-pollinated, including the Cocoa tree. The non-cocoa seeds will drop as "a peculiar seed" by certain (TBD) monsters. They won't give seeds of their own and won't give resources. The upside? There are ten possible plants the seeds can grow into!
The Cocoa tree will come from "a fragrant seed", also dropped by monsters, and will give the "cocoa pulp" resource, which Chefs can render into Cocoa Liquor or Cocoa Butter. They will also give more fragrant seeds.
--
"I know you can't tell us about exploits, but how many have you fixed recently?"
This is a fair question, and so I did some digging through my internal publish notes and took a rough count from Publish 51 on:
- Major Exploits: 4
- Moderate Exploits: 9
- Minor Exploits: 7
Major would be dupes, server crash bugs, severely imbalancing gameplay bugs (God-mode level stuff.) Moderate would be mid-level cheats and exploitable bugs. Minor would be bugs that are exploitable, but don't pose much gameplay or economy balance risk (being able to get inappropriately-colored cloth, for an example.) This is just a quick eyeballing of my mailbox, but is fairly representative of how much gets fixed per publish that we don't tell you about, and in what proportion.
If you're interested in our Bug Report Reward Program, we're primarily going to reward for Major-level bugs, although you will have our eternal gratitude for any and all reproducible bugs you send us.
--
QA Request of the Week
QA has gotten a few bug reports involving people being unable to join the Thieves' Guild. However, they haven't been able to reproduce the problem at all, so they'd love to see more reports, with as much detail as possible. Things like how much real Stealing your character has, if your character is wearing +skill jewelry, how old the character is, even which NPC you're talking to (and where - shard, facet, town, etc) might be of use. Also please report the message (or lack thereof) you are receiving.
Joining the Thieves' Guild requires 60 points of Stealing and 500 gold given to the Thief Guildmaster - at least in theory. Thanks for your help!
--
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! Also please note, the position is in Fairfax, VA.
--
What's To Come:
The "Death of the Council" event will be turned off on all shards at some point tonight - turning the event off is a manual process, and there are a lot of shards, so I can't promise you a specific timeframe, but you can expect the event to be ending shortly.
The Spring Cleaning collection and reward NPCs will be hanging around a while yet - I should be able to give you at least a week's notice to finish your clean-up and claim your rewards before they depart for other, more spring-like lands.
The next publish is grinding its way into existence, but is still at least a few weeks away. When it gets a bit closer I should have more details to share with you. The next publish will contain the next phase of the event - that I can say with moderate confidence :P
--
Town Hall News:
No rest for the wicked - the next Town Hall approaches! This one is in Seattle and I would strongly suggest that you make room on your calendar to come hang out with us - check out the details here and please do RSVP.
--
Fansite News:
Whispering Rose Radio is recovered from the Town Hall and ready for action!
The WRR road crew is back from last weekends exciting San Diego UO Town Hall and is ready for a packed full of fun weekend with some shard hopping ......
~~~~~~~~~
Friday - Aug. 1st - It's time once again for UO Shard Chatter with TorAnn, Dr. Lil and PantherBabe starting at 7pm PST, 10pm EST on WRR. Hear UO players chat about this weeks game topics and other UO news!! The weekly show finishes with the "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).
~~~~~~~~~
Saturday - Aug. 2nd - Tune into the the Brush LimpPaw show starting at 2pm PST, 5pm EST to hear his Universal Outlook on current events as only he can deliver it.
~~~~~~~~~
Saturday - Aug. 2nd - Deal or NO Deal 'UO Style' is back and ready to give everyone the opportunity to win 10 Mil on the shard of their choice. (1/3 Siege). Join the fun on Oceania starting at 3pm PT, 6pm ET (Sunday, Aug. 3rd - 8am Sydney). Click here for map of location and more details.
~~~~~~~~~
Saturday - Aug. 2nd - After the Deal or No Deal 'UO Style' stay tuned as DJ Dr. Lil hops over to the Legends shard to lend a hand and cover the T^R scavenger Hunt where players have the opportunity to win many fabulous prizes! Hear it live on WRR starting at 5:30pm PT, 8:30pm ET.
~~~~~~~~~
Saturday - Aug. 2nd - After the T^R scavenger hunt on Legends its time to hop over to the Pacific shard for WRR Casino night starting at 7pm PT, 10pm ET. Play games like Black Jack, Hi or Low, and everyone's favorite ... Lich Ball!! If you're not from Pacific no worries! DJ Sandman will exchange gold on your shard for gold on Pacific and transfer your winnings back to your home shard ... FREE!! Click here for map location and detail information.
~~~~~~~~~
Sunday - Aug. 3rd - 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 WRRadio.
~~~~~~~~~~
So pack your bags for some shard hopping fun this weekend on Ultima Online while listening to the broadcasts from WRR ~ see you all on the flip side.
PaxOku City on Chesapeake has several events coming up:
--
Blue Light Play House Presents:
"A Day In The Life Of A Miner"
Friday August 1st 9:00pm est
Join us in PaxOku City (Chesapeake, Tokuno Islands, Homare-Jima Moongate) for our Friday show. PaxLair Statehood puts on a
| |
Stratics Central
