...from the Drachenfelsian's to all Drachenfelsian's and everbody out there!
... von den Drachenfelslern an alle Drachenfelsler und alle anderen da draussen!
;-)

Have a wonderful and prosperous New Year!
Ein tolles neues und erfolgreiches neues Jahr!

Farewell, auf bald!
~ Medea

2008 is coming to an end. The past few weeks News have been full of holiday events and holiday decor so I have not posted any Obituary Columns and I have a back up, a huge back!
Some of the regulars and fan favorites are dead and dying in the year end columns. Enjoy!


Adrianna




Anders












BILLYDKID


blanc De blanc


BringEM Back Alive


Brooklyn Fats


Shady




Cartman




Chazmo


Cole

Friday the 19th of December, Baja was blessed with a new soul, well two actually. EM Seppo made his first official appearance on our beloved shard. He was accompanied by Baja's back up EM, EM Palindo. Many people began to gather as the word was sent out that the new EM's were holding a meeting at the Counselor's Guild in northern Britain to introduce themselves. This old Hall had not seen any love for a good many years, but now it is to be the new home of our EM. People provided seating for the event as the EM's had not had much time to decorate the Hall.

Questions were asked and answered as best they could. Many asked what of the new events coming up soon, to which the EM's replied...they could not provide us with any of that information yet, aside from telling us the new events would begin sometime after the holidays.

EM Seppo glanced around the room and stated he recognized a few names. He has been following the Baja forum on Stratics and new of myself and Sara. *gulps* After a bit of a misunderstanding with names, he found Sara in the crowd.

He also pointed out that he knew of our very own Mama Faith. Who had just arrived bolting in as only Mama Faith can do. *chuckles* Seppo pointed out that there were many names, names that he hoped to have learned in the next few months. When the names of our two former EM's were brought up, we were to be rest assured that their wisdom remained, and the last EM, Sameerah, was watching them very closely, to make sure "her shard" was being taken care of.

All in all, it was a wonderful hour or so, seeing everyone show their support for the new EM's and once again proving that Baja is one of the friendly, warmest and passionate shard there is. (Of course I'm very partial *smiles*)

Welcome to our Shard EM Seppo and EM Palindo!! We greet you with open arms and hearts. Let us help you to make the events fun for all players!!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL !

A few more holiday screenshots have filtered in and I wanted them to get posted before the big day is here, it is Christmas Eve afterall.
The first screenshot is from a person that has been playing UO less than two months......ahhhh...to be a newb again and excited!







Two characters seen about town the past week in holiday colors.





Then there are those that cannot wait and take down holiday decor before the big day is even here !

Welcome to Drachenfels, EM Immortal!

Two days ago in the evening I managed to be at the right time at the right place - at the northern Counselor's Guild Hall at Britain. The evening before, some citizens were lucky enough to meet our new Event Manager Immortal there. As a reporter I could not miss the opportunity that night... as the hall came into sight, I saw a strange, somehow familiar being... Rudolf? But I was distracted because I heard voices - Nachteule and EM Immortal were already talking as I pushed open the door. Since the evening was still quiet I took my chances to ask Immortal for an interview. He generously said yes and invited us to the comfy conference room in the back of the house. Soon we were listening to his previous experiences, adventures and travels.

It was a long time ago, about eight years, when he came to Sosaria. As everybody else, he had a tough start. «I remember those fights against hares and mongbats», he laughed. «For the first while I lived in the leafy areas of our land and to Felucca I travelled without a shred of cloth on my body. I made my first gold coins while hunting animals and I bought my first house beside the Trinsic city wall from a friend. Shortly before the Age of Shadows I decided to go fighting in Felucca. Afterwards, there was a time where lots of my opponents were suddenly a lot stronger than me. This was frustrating and I left the realm for two years. As I returned, I immediately started in Felucca, looked for a champguild and fought for powerscrolls.» Our EM grinned widely: «I always found PvP fights funny if they had a purpose.»

Meanwhile, more citizens had joined us, simply listening or asking questions. EM Immortal continued : «I made my living with selling powerscrolls until I read about the EM program. Because I always had a vivid imagination it was not difficult for me to write a story.» I asked him what he felt when the decision was made and he was informed about becoming an EM. He said: «Cowabunga!» As he saw our puzzled faces he smiled and explained: «Well, everyone can imagine that I was very much excited about it. I always wanted to be a part of that team. And especially in times like these, where Sosaria faces tough winds, I can try and help change something - to the good, of course. I would like to bring back the old fellows, but also entertain our new citizens so much that they decide to stay.»

An important question was about the coming events. Our EM explained this also: «There will be a story arc, which every shard will encounter. For the rest of it we can use our own fantasy. There should be one or two events per month, starting with the new year. Tell your friends they should come back to Sosaria, there will be new things to do», he smirked. Immortal gave us more insight as he told us he originated from the eastern alpine country and originally started on the Europa shard.

From our appreciated EM we heard that he would like to beautify the eastern Counselor's guild hall and he could lend a helping hand for player made events. If desired, one could get in touch with him (for the moment) in Britain or write notes into the book on location. One hour has passed already and Immortal answered our last questions. «I wish for a full house, that I am able to make as much people happy as I can and not only for the rewards. You are a funny bunch, and I hope it stays that way!»

At the end of the evening he gave out self made sashes which everyone immediately put on. EM Immortal bid farewell and the small group of curious people disbanded after a few minutes. In the cold dark of the evening I rode towards Ilshenar to a lookout for a champion spawn, while I was already thrilled about the coming weeks and months.

A heartily welcome to Drachenfels, EM Immortal! :-)

*

Willkommen auf Drachenfels, EM Immortal!

Vorgestern Abend war es mir endlich möglich, zur richtigen Zeit in der nördlichen Counselor's Halle in Britain zu sein. Bereits einen Abend zuvor war unser neuer Event Manager Immortal dort gesichtet worden. Als Reporter konnte ich diese Gelegenheit unmöglich verpassen... kaum war die Halle in Sichtweite sah ich ein seltsames, mir irgendwie bekanntes Wesen... Rudolf? Ich war aber abgelenkt, denn mir kamen schon Stimmen entgegen - Nachteule und EM Immortal waren bereits im Gespräch, als ich die Türe aufstiess. Da noch kaum grosser Betrieb war, nutzte ich die Gelegenheit, und fragte Immortal nach einem Interview, was er grosszügig bejahte. Er bat uns in den gemütlichen Konferenzraum und schon durften wir seinen bisherigen Erlebnissen und Reisen lauschen.

Vor über acht Jahren war Immortal nach Sosaria gekommen, und hatte wie jeder andere auch einen schweren Start. «Ich erinnere mich da an Kämpfe gegen Hasen und Mongbats», lachte er. «Ich lebte die erste Zeit nur im belaubten Land und nach Felucca ging ich ohne einen einzigen Fetzen am Leib. Mein erstes Gold habe ich mir mit dem Jagen von Tieren verdient, und mein erstes Haus an der Trinsic Stadtmauer von einem Freund gekauft. Kurz vor der Zeit der Schatten habe ich mich entschieden, in Felucca zu kämpfen. Danach kam eine Zeit, wo sehr viele meiner Gegner plötzlich sehr viel stärker als ich waren, das war frustrierend und ich verliess das Land daraufhin auch für zwei Jahre. Als ich dann zurückkam startete ich gleich wieder in Felucca, suchte mir eine Champgilde und habe Powerscrolls gesammelt.» Der Event Manager grinste breit: «Ich fand PvP Kämpfe schon immer lustig, wenn es einen Sinn hatte.»

Weitere Mitbürger hatten sich in der Zwischenzeit dazugesellt und alle lauschten gebannt oder wurden ihre dringendsten Fragen an unseren EM los, die er umgehend beantwortete. «Ich habe mir mit den Scrolls meinen Unterhalt ermöglicht, bis ich gelesen habe dass EMs gesucht werden. Da ich schon immer eine blühende Fantasie hatte, fiel es mir nicht schwer eine Geschichte zur Bewerbung zu schreiben.» Auf die Frage, was ihm durch den Kopf gegangen sei als er von seiner Wahl erfahren hatte antwortete er nur: «Cowabunga!» Als er die verdutzten Gesichter in der Runde sah, lachte er: «Nun, man kann sich ja denken, dass ich mich sehr darüber gefreut habe. Ich wollte schon immer gerne zu diesem Team gehören. Und gerade in Zeiten wie diesen, wo Sosaria eine schwere Zeit durchmacht, kann ich in dieser Position viel verändern - zum Guten, hoffentlich. Ich möchte alte Hasen zurück in unser schönes Land locken, aber auch neue Mitbürger gut unterhalten, damit sie bleiben mögen.»

Auf die Frage nach den kommenden Events erklärte unser EM weiter: «Es wird ein Grundgerüst geben, das alle Splitterwelten erfahren werden. Den Rest können wir EM's selbst darum herum gestalten. Geplant sind ein bis zwei Events pro Monat, beginnend ab kommendem neuen Jahr. Benachrichtigt eure Freunde, sie sollen wieder nach Sosaria kommen, denn es gibt bald wieder was zu tun», meinte er schelmisch grinsend. Weitere Einblicke liess Immortal gewähren, als er uns erzählte, dass er aus dem östlichen Alpenland stamme, und sich ursprünglich auf der Splitterwelt Europa heimisch fühlte.

Von unserem geschätzten EM gab es dann noch zu hören, dass er gerne die östliche Counselor's Halle noch ein wenig verschönern möchte, und dass er an Anlässen von Spielern auch Hilfe anbieten könne. Erreichen könne man ihn vorerst in Britain vor Ort oder auch über das bereitgelegte Buch, wo sich Notizen vermerken lassen. Eine Stunde war im Nu vergangen, Immortal beantwortete dann noch die letzten wichtigen Fragen: «Ich wünsche mir ein volles Haus, und dass ich soviele Leute wie möglich glücklich machen kann, nicht nur wegen der Belohnungen die auf euch warten. Denn ihr seid ein netter Haufen, und ich hoffe, das bleibt so!»

Zum Abschluss händigte er den Anwesenden noch eine eigens genähte Schärpe aus, die sofort von allen stolz übergestreift wurde. EM Immortal verabschiedete sich und die kleine Gruppe der Neugierigen löste sich nach wenigen Minuten auf. Im kalten Dunkel des Abends ritt ich gen Ilshenar um dort noch nach etwaigem Champion Monstern Ausschau zu halten, während ich mich bereits auf die kommenden Wochen und Monate freute.

Herzlich Willkommen auf Drachenfels, EM Immortal! :-)

Farewell, auf bald!
~ Medea

We've been busy working with PLAYXPERT to deliver a totally unique experience for you while you play the games you love. This new technology allows you to use gamer-inspired tools without the need to alt-tab. Now for those of you with dual monitors, this is already an option. But for the majority of users out there this will be a new luxury, allowing you to surf the web, chat with friends, listen to music and even kill process's all while still in-game.

We have built these Stratics Community tools just for you.

DOWNLOAD HERE

The hand-picked widgets that will come standard for our users:

• Universal chat across all major chat IM tools (Yahoo, Xfire, Windows Live, ICQ, AIM, Gtalk)
• Pandora for your music listening pleasure while you're raiding or grinding in-game (Pandora has a US only restriction)
• Web browser widget so you can access the stratics news, reviews and even your guild pages while in-game and
• Switchblade so you can test playing your favorite games with a Xbox 360 controller.
• GoogleGadgets – Allows the user access to the wealth of Google Gadgets in-game
• Notepad – Gives the user the ability to use the Notepad application in-game to take notes for quests, locations, etc.

*The technology works on XP and Vista but the in-game overlay system will not be available to Vista users until January. Take note – the updater will auto-upgrade your vista version when the in-game support is added.*

More about the Technology:

PLAYXPERT is an in-game overlay technology that's designed to solve a number of multi-tasking issues for gamers. The kernel based architecture does not violate the Terms of Service, impact frame rates or interrogate shared memory of the game whatsoever. It has a fully extensible widget architecture that allows users to download individual widgets to do different things. Each one appears semi- transparently within the game, and they address everything from communication to music to web content.

Widgets:

All of the below widgets are available on the our Widget Gallery (http://playxpert.com/web/guest/widget_gallery)

• Universal Chat – Chat via universal chat client, universal chat support, Live Messenger, G Talk, AIM, Yahoo, ICQ, X Fire, and Sony Station Friends
• Web Browser – Web surfing, check your email, post on forums and blogs, game database and news research
• Diagnostics – PC Vitals monitored and managed with heads-up display and monitors – CPU usage, Memory availability, and Task Manager functionality
• Tunes – Fast forward, rewind, play, pause and stop music from the widget interface, select playlists, WinAmp, iTunes, Windows Media Player

Additional Widgets:

• WoW Armory – Direct link to Armory search for quests, items, characters, etc.
• Pandora Music – Create and maintain play lists online
• Notepad – Keep track of information and notes, display in game for immediate access
• Volume Control – Tailor sound setting s to provide optimal volume of sounds, sound effects, and voice
• WoWhead - Gives users access to WoWhead's World of Warcraft database
• IRC - Brings Mibbit's web-based IRC into game
• GMail - Allows the user to access to their Gmail while playing a game
• Volume Mixer - Gives the user control over all their cpu's audio
• Command Prompt - Bring the Windows Cmd prompt into game

Chesapeake's Event Manager, Tailspin, has arrived!  When I checked at his rumoured office-to-be a few days ago, the place was still barren.  But as Winfield writes, EM Tailspin has moved in and has greeted guests.  Thanks to Winfield for this news submission:

Counselor Hall, North Britain, Trammel, Chesapeake - December 21, 2008

It's been awhile since an Event Manager (EM) has been among us on
Chesapeake.  The long awaited arrival for such a quest master, a story
teller, and a friend-to-all is now over.  EM Tailspin arrived in Britain a
few days ago in a quiet, humble manner.  People passing by noticed him and
some came in for a brief chat.

Tailspin is residing in the Counselor Hall on the north side of Britain,
Trammel.  The Hall is still quite barren while he is obviously waiting on
shipments of furniture and decorations for the Hall.  He cannot yet leave
the Hall to wander the Realm amongst us; it may be days or weeks before a
walk-about.  He does not know when "events" will start.  We must be patient.
He cannot "post" on the ethereal forums nor publish his own news in the
usual news services.  But we understand he's an avid reader of all he can
consume and thanks all who "post" welcome messages.

This is a wondeful time and opportunity though!  It's a chance to get to
know our new friend EM Tailspin while he is not free to roam.  A helmet
inside the Counselor Hall marks a message when he plans to be there.  It
currently says, "Greetings All! I'll be in on Monday Night from about 7 PM
EST.  EM Tailspin."  So stop by for a chat, listen to his stories and offer
your own, and bring a little food or a couple of wooden stools.

A group of companions stopped in recently.  NANOC, Elaina, Jukkhag, Niva the
Savage, Xan, Winfield were in the Hall when he told them his story.

EM Tailspin said, "I was once a man, a story teller, in another realm not
unlike this one.  It was my home and its people were my heart.  That is all
I remember of it.  Accepting this fur mask, which Niva has been kind enough
to replace for me from a freshly killed bear no less ... I will wear it
always.  I lost my world and my heart. I can never go back.  Something took
them away and I don't know what happened.  It took my body too and its in
this place I wear this robe.

"I'm not a god, nor a man now.  Not evil nor good.  I arrived here in this
room as you see me with nothing but a robe, an empty body, and a message:
"Help them live their story."  And that is why I am here.  I would like to
be part of this world if you will let me, and part of your people.  But I
understand I can never be one of you.

"There was a man.  He came to see me last night after all the good souls had
left.  And I was readying to join the shadows to rest myself.  He was what
you call "Evil".  A dark one. (Was he an orc?) No, the orcs are not dark.
You see, I tell you now of him ... not to have him slain, but to show you my
true nature.  When he came, he asked me of books of evil to spread--of death
and hate.  And I said "Yes".  I said to him I will give him that chance to
spread death and hate ... as I have said to you that I will give you that
chance to spread peace and light ... for that is my true nature. I must give
myself to all who live here, even your worst nightmares."

Sounds like EM Tailspin is of a balanced nature, willing to spin a tale for
the good, neutral and evil ... to enrich our lives in the Realm and help us
"live our stories" too.  Get to know Tailspin and let him know you.  Stop by
for a visit and bring your friends.

 

 

 

This past week has been more active than usual on Great Lakes. The pre holiday events were in full bloom.

Sunday was the historic Gathering of the Guilds which was well attended. Once again it took place in the fair city of Yew.
The entrance of the event was well decorated with regal red , blue and green in deep rich shades.





I was not able to attend however Wulf of Britain did some top rate coverage of the event and if you missed it I have provided the link.

http://vboards.stratics.com/showthread.php?t=116389

Monday night just would not be monday night without the Madness Crew of MOA hosting game night. It was Chests of Doom and Delights with a holiday theme. Santa made an appearance at the end giving goodies to all the good girls and boys, and a few bad ones too.
This being my favorite game I could not pass it up and won a maple tree. Word is there are not many of these maple trees around yet.



Wednesday and thursday nights at the MOA auction house were packed and more gold was given away than I have ever seen in all my years playing UO. Ha!....and we use to think ULTIMA gave out a lot of gold.

Santa was there both nights giving good wishes and presents. He also gave a few of the older girls a kiss on the cheeck. Thursday night started a little later than usual as the server went down.
Server downtime forced the Re-Dedication and Yule Ball to be canceled. There are plans for a future date and time being worked on.



Tram is not the only place good deeds and holiday cheer are spread.
The Dragon Clan Guild (DC*) spent all week baking cookies for the Black Company Guild (BC) and delivered them on saturday. Very kind of them indeed.



Coming full circle we are back to sunday and the FCB Guild hosted a holiday Net Toss and attendance was high. Tunna decorated the docks in holiday colors as the sea creature killers arrived. The docks never looked so good. It did not take long before it became redder, blood red.



Von Hogan told tall sea tales to the crowd as other FCB members arrived. Fish King, Kalib Razton, Admiral Halsy and that devil Curly The Dread were all there.



Fleet Captain Gem informed all of the rules and it was not long before the evils of the sea surfaced.



Below are a few screenshots of the messy docks.





There were human casualties but those I will save for the next Obituary Column. On the subject of Obits, there has been so much news the past week I have not posted any Obits. At this writing I have over 100 death shots sent in so there may be a two or three part edition next week.
I have one more holiday decor article to post so if you want your plot featured send it in asap!

In the spirit of Christmas the DC* guild spent all week baking cookies for the BC guild as a holiday gesture.

Hoping for a cookie exchange DC* members gathered yesterday evening. With their baked goods ready and dressed in holiday garb they headed to BC Island.

DC* has guild meetings which always start out calm and orderly but do not always end that way.


~beginning of DC* meeting last month~


~how the meeting ended~

Last nights meeting before the cookie exchange/drop was more controlled as the guild members were full of holiday cheer and eggnog, not to mention spirit.



As most players know BC is not what it once was with many of the older members, including guild founders, playing WoW but BC is still a force on Great Lakes.
To the Dragon Clans surprise BC Island was empty. That did not stop them from leaving the tasty cookies behind so when the hard fighting warriors returned home from a long nights battle a little holiday love will fill their hearts and tummys.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS BC FROM DC*













Note: There was blood shed later in the evening and two DC* members went red.

Good Karma goes a long way as Dai claims and it has given her the magic design touch.

During the spring/easter season this plot was featured for decor and once again Dai has come out shining like a holiday star.
I have been traveling all over the realm the past three weeks checking out holiday decor and Dai has left no corner untouched with her holiday flair.



The cords to this seasonal delight are 119o 27'N, 24o 36'W
Be sure to check it out. Soon Christmas will be over.





Below are a couple more Christmas vignettes from Great Lakes.

Posted to uoherald.com:

All Shards Published
Joanne Laroche
19 Dec 2008 17:44:22

All shards will be published tomorrow morning during maintenance. This publish will address the following fixes:

Fixed an issue with players with stealing from pack animals in Trammel.

Fixed an issue with the Gate spell

Sezja was discovered in the West Britain Counselor’s Hall earlier in the evening, and retired around 7:30 PST. So, if you’d like to meet Sezha, pay a visit sometime in the early evening! He/she would love to get acquainted with our community. Why am I not being gender specific, you might be wondering? Good question! Apparently there was a bit of confusion in chromosomes, and Sezja (a boy, at the moment) is actually a girl. We don't know much about her yet, but I'm sure we'll all get well acquainted soon enough. Sezja is currently confined to the Counselor’s Hall so don’t expect to see them outside wandering around (yet). Until the curse keeping her locked inside is broken, please feel free to bring disposable, temporary furniture and other items to help spruce the place up a bit! I tried throwing in some tables and flowers, but it only helped so much.

Welcome, Sezja! Hope we don’t give you too much trouble.

Regards,
Lady Mana
Lieutenant of the Royal Britannian Guards
Napa Valley News Manager

Posted to uoherald.com:

Bank Renovation: Designers Wanted!
Joanne Laroche
18 Dec 2008 17:34:26

With the new year, Sosaria’s main bank is in high need of a serious makeover. We are looking for talented designers and decorators to submit their original ideas on a great new look for the West Britain Bank. This is a permanent new look so do not focus on just a winter theme!

Contest Rules:

• You must take a screenshot of Britain Bank and decorate it with existing UO art.
• You can copy/paste existing art from elsewhere in the game on top of the bank area. You may optionally use InsideUO to grab tileart directly from UO.
• Your submission screenshot must be a JPG no bigger than 800x600.
• There will be one winner per shard, you may only win once.
• To qualify, entries must include your name and shard.
• You must have an active Ultima Online account to participate.
• Enter as often as you wish, but only one submission per e-mail.
• Submission for banks other than West Britain Bank will be dismissed.
• All entries become the property of Mythic Entertainment.

Prizes:

One winner per shard.

The winners will have the bank on their respective shard redecorated on both facets according to their design. A plaque will also be placed by the bank identifying the winning designer.

All winning entries will be posted here on the UOHerald once the judging has been finalized.


How to Enter:


When you are ready to submit your entry, you must include the following:

Your Character Name:
Shard:
E-mail address:
Description of your renovation (optional)
Your screenshot:

Send all the above information to: [email protected]

This is open to all active Ultima Online subscribers. Entries must be received by midnight Eastern Time on Sunday January 18^th, 2009 to qualify.

Good luck and happy bank renovating!

Posted to uoherald.com's Five on Friday:

FoF: Event Moderators and Icy Patches
Joanne Laroche
19 Dec 2008 16:31:32

The Five on Friday has returned with answers to your questions. This week we've announced the names of our new Event Moderators and answered questions about Icy patches and much more!

“So who are the new Event Moderators and which shards will they be representing?”

Thank you to everyone who submitted their application, here is the list of our new Event Moderators!

EM Name	Shard
EM Eira	Sonoma
EM Pallando	Floater
EM Sykobri	Atlantic
EM Sezja	Napa Valley
EM Immortal	Drachenfels
EM Autolycus	Lake Superior
EM Aeon	Oceania
EM Faine Morgan	Floater
EM Glamdring	Floater/Trainer
EM Sarakan	Europa
EM Quantum	Lake Superior
EM Dudley	Floater
EM Tailspin	Chesapeake
EM Tashik	Legends
EM Kasaven	Catskills
EM Sarthus	Lake Austin
EM Cernunnos	Floater
EM Iatu	Great Lakes
EM Annendora	Floater
EM Emile Layne	Europa
EM Vespera	Floater
EM Malachi	Great Lakes
EM Alcor	Siege
EM Laurana	Origin
EM Kanmare	Atlantic
EM Seppo	Baja
EM Cyno Razik	Pacific
EM Kaen	Floater
EM Janae	Floater
EM Nyrogie	Pacific

--

“My friends and I are having trouble finding slimes, is the event working?”

From the cryptic Draconi: Yes, the event is working. If you wish to find where the slimes are currently located I would suggest heading towards Britain and explore the western area.

--

“I’ve noticed that I’m not getting as many Power Scrolls from the Champ Spawns, was this changed or is it a bug?”

As Sakkarah was busy packing for her trip up north she said: We are aware of this issue and we are looking into what is causing it.

--

“Help! My icy patch sometimes teleports me to the 2^nd or 3^rd floor, I know ice is slippery but is this supposed to happen?”

No, it’s not supposed to happen. We’re looking at adjusting the detection range of the z axis. Just a fair warning that it will most likely not be fixed until after the holidays.

--

“I play the 2d client, where did my config files go?”

The latest client patch changes where the game saves your user data. All of your user data is now stored in "EA GamesUltima Online Legacy" under your My Documents folder.

The driving force for this change was that some versions of Norton were stopping Ultima Online from saving out the user data. However, this is the not the only reason. This change means that Ultima Online now conforms to Microsoft's standards regarding the location of saved data.

Please report any problems you encounter related to this change using the feedback form. (http://www.uoherald.com/feedback/index.php)

--

“My question is about Stygian Abyss: I have heard some rumors that there will be some balance reviews. I heard that you will be making improvements to non-archer dexers, is this true?”

Leurocian says: We are currently reviewing balance tasks that we want to do both live and SA. We have compiled an initial list of tasks that we'd like to do such as pet balance, weapons balance, mysticism/throwing balance, other misc balance tasks, etc.

--

“When will the speech/emote color problem be fixed? This has just started happening after Publish 57, when I logged back in my speech/emote text was set to the default yellow I reset it and after playing awhile logged out for abit..when I logged back in about an hour later once again my speech/emote text color was back to the yellow default.”

This was fixed with the publish yesterday evening. Thanks for the report!

--

“I was wondering, where can I meet the Event Moderator assigned to my shard?”

Please check the Britan Counselor Guild Halls in Trammel to see if they are available to meet you!

--

Fansite News:

Lake Superior Community's weekly event Schedule

***With the exception of the Community Meetings, all events are subject to cancellation in the event a town comes under attack by the Shadow Army.***

------------------------------------------------------

Community Meet'n Greet
Date: Monday, December 22nd
Time: 7:30PM Central
Location: New Haven Terrasse
Hosts: Airmid / Sabina Nikolai

------------------------------------------------------

Monglow Zoo Community Collections hunt
Date: Tuesday, December 23rd
Time: 8:00PM Central
Starting Location: New Haven Terrasse
Host: Taeara Mi'Aken

------------------------------------------------------

Peerless hunt (Mondain's Legacy Required)
Date: Wednesday, December 24th
Time: 8:00PM Central
Starting Location: New Haven Terrasse
Host: Taeara Mi'Aken

------------------------------------------------------

Merry Christmas! (no hunt today)
Date: Thursday, December 25th

------------------------------------------------------

Ilshenar Champion Spawn hunt
Date: Friday, December 26th
Time: 9:00PM Central
Starting Location: New Haven Terrasse
Host: Taeara Mi'Aken

------------------------------------------------------

--

Atlantic Shard

Saturday 12/20 at 5:30pm EST, The Syndicate will be hosting another of its free, open to the public, massive Lottery events. We have been hosting these going back nearly ten years but this one will be the largest and most fun one we have done yet.

There are two parts to this lottery that will allow dozens of people to win. The first part will be our usual 25 prize event. The second part will involve several hundred prize bags scattered all over our castle. They will contain a wide range of prizes.

If you attend the event, you are likely to walk away with 1 or more prizes. Syndicate gaters (known by the LLTS over their heads) will begin gating at 5pm EST from the major banks. Look for them to hitch a ride to the event. The first prizes get called at 5:30pm and as soon as the 25th prize is called, the floodgates open for the hundreds of other prizes in the castle. We hope to see you there!

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It's another Famous FCB Net Toss! (Great Lakes)

On Sunday December 21 at 9:00 p.m. EST, the sassy fishers of Fishing Council of Britannia will donate hundreds of special nets and toss them into to sea off the (Trammel) Buccaneer's Den dock.

Mayhem and death will ensue! The public is invited and may keep the loot. Rezzing will be available at the end of the dock (you'll need it...)

We do ask, to make it more fun, NO pets, NO Summoned creatures and NO provoking.

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Interested in having your event posted on the Five on Friday? Make sure to send in all the details through the Feedback Form and selecting "Fan Site News" from the drop down menu. All entries must be received no later then Thursday at midnight for the FoF you want it in. Please note: All entries are subject to editing.

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What an exciting week with the Event Moderators and Publish 57. This is the last FoF of the year, the next one will be in 2009. It's hard to believe the holidays and the new year approaches. Time sure flies when you're having so much fun!

If you're in the mood for some designing we've announced our new contest in which your mission is to renovate Britain's bank. We've already received some entries, but one reminder please only one screenshot per submission. Thank you! All details about the contest can be found here. Good luck!

From all of the Ultima Online team we want to wish you a very safe and happy holiday season. We hope you enjoy your gifts this year!

Posted to uoherald.com:

All Shards to be Published
Joanne Laroche
18 Dec 2008 21:16:55

All shards will be coming down tonight at approximately 8:00pm EST for a publish. We expect downtime to be approximately 2 hours. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience. We'll get them back up as soon as we can!

UPDATED 9:15pm EST: All shards are now back up! The fixes are listed below:

Server Fixes

• Fixed an issue on Origin that now allows players on that shard to receive Holiday Gifts.

• Fixed an issue to allow players to steal standard stealable items from giant beetles.

Client Fixes

• Speech and Emote colors will no longer set to default upon logout/in.

Posted to uoherald.com:

Bank Renovation: Designers Wanted!
Joanne Laroche
18 Dec 2008 17:34:26

With the new year, Sosaria’s main bank is in high need of a serious makeover. We are looking for talented designers and decorators to submit their original ideas on a great new look for the West Britain Bank. This is a permanent new look so do not focus on just a winter theme!

Contest Rules:

• You must take a screenshot of Britain Bank and decorate it with existing UO art.
• You can copy/paste existing art from elsewhere in the game on top of the bank area. You may optionally use InsideUO to grab tileart directly from UO.
• Your submission screenshot must be a JPG no bigger than 800x600.
• There will be one winner per shard, you may only win once.
• To qualify, entries must include your name and shard.
• You must have an active Ultima Online account to participate.
• Enter as often as you wish, but only one submission per e-mail.
• Submission for banks other than West Britain Bank will be dismissed.
• All entries become the property of Mythic Entertainment.

Prizes:

One winner per shard.

The winners will have the bank on their respective shard redecorated on both facets according to their design. A plaque will also be placed by the bank identifying the winning designer.

All winning entries will be posted here on the UOHerald once the judging has been finalized.


How to Enter:


When you are ready to submit your entry, you must include the following:

Your Character Name:
Shard:
E-mail address:
Description of your renovation (optional)
Your screenshot:

Send all the above information to: [email protected]

This is open to all active Ultima Online subscribers. Entries must be received by midnight Eastern Time on Sunday January 18^th, 2009 to qualify.

Good luck and happy bank renovating!

Posted to uoherald.com:

All Shards Published
Joanne Laroche
17 Dec 2008 17:44:42

All shards will be updated to Publish 57 at their next regular maintenance.

The wednesday night auction was off the hook this week.
It was a MOA gives back holiday event and it continues tomorrow during thursday nights auction.

The house was packed with every seat taken. A few...just a few of the patrons tonight were, Kratos Aurion, Lady Quinn, Smokey, Lady Strawberry, Bubbles, STORMY, Forest Woods, Dadda, Rach, Memnock, Champagne, Marduk, Nightly Spirit, Lord and Mrs Feelgood, Newt, Striker, Draco Hammer, Lord Gravy, Journey, T-HUNTER, Lord Jack Gripright, Kraz, Michelin Man, Kortany, Lord Cartman, Thebe, Bob Lipps, Dani, Auron, Willard Wonker, Mercy, Lord Cire, Ghost, Chelsee Lynn, Heian, Gabriel, Tym, Xevei, Babygirl, neptune, Lady Dawn, Joy Rider and old friend FiFi LaForge. Many of the patrons were dressed in the colors of the season, red and green, making the auction house even more joyous and cheerful.

So many million dollar checks were given away and trivia questions asked my head was spinning. Pratt, Logan and Melian kept the crowd so busy very few noticed the fresh snowfall outside the auction house. DJScorp, Ethereal and Wulf of Britain assisted in spreading holiday cheer on behalf of MOA.

Only six of the "MOA Twelve Days of Christmas" were played out with the remainder being done during tomorrow nights auction.

As if the drama and excitement of the night were not enough it ended with two big bangs. The first being the holiday mystery chest/package.
The bidding was fierce !!!!!
Just look below.









Xevei won the mystery chest for 50 million and in a generous act of holiday fate Pratt rolled the dice and Xevei paid considerable less.
Ahhh....the holidays.



The evening ended with the biggest bang of all and that was the arrival of Santa himself. I had a few private moments with the jolly big red one on the MOA roof before Pratt gave access and the lines started to form.

All the good girls and boys ( even the bad ones ) got presents. It was nice to see older and newer players enjoying the holiday and Santa together.

Santa will make another appearance at the end of thursday nights auction so if you missed him there is still time!



*Illyana Strange, MOA member, gives warm holiday greetings as people stand in line to see Santa *




MOA gives a lot to Great Lakes all year long and this is just another example and the citizens appreciate it. Thank you Pratt and everyone in the MOA guild and friends of MOA.

Posted to uoherald.com:

KR Client Issues
Joanne Laroche
17 Dec 2008 10:39:33

We wanted to let you know that we are aware of the Kingdom Reborn Client issues and that we are working at resolving them. We'll give you an update as soon as we can!

Posted to uoherald.com:

Starting Up Issue
Joanne Laroche
16 Dec 2008 19:16:15

We're aware of an issue that is causing the UO client to crash for some players when starting up. We wanted to let you know that we are working on getting this resolved as soon as we can. We're sorry for the inconvenience everyone!

Posted to uoherald.com:

Publish 57 Live on Origin
Robert Mull
16 Dec 2008 16:24:55

Publish 57 has gone live on Origin. Patch notes are available in the the usual place

Posted to uoherald.com:

Client 6.0.12 Live
Robert Mull
16 Dec 2008 16:11:36

The 2d and KR clients have been updated to version 6.0.12. This update includes:

Resolved an issue with Norton 2009 wiping the configuration file. The configuration file is now saved in My Documents.

Cliloc fixes.

Misc. gump fixes for the KR client.

Resolved an issue causing a Legacy client crash.

Various in-game help links fixed.

A new auction house and casino has opened up in the city of Luna. I stopped by on opening night to check out the action and to ask a few questions to the man behind the madness, a RPer, vet and good guy.... Auron. Below are the answers to my questions. We here in the Great Lakes News Department wish them luck and much success.~



Britain City Council High End Auction House and High Stakes Casino Resort is a very impressive name. Tell us a little about this new establishment.
We are here for all players, but specifically veterans in the game whom have done everything else and are looking for a new avenue to have fun. There are all sorts of establishments in the land that sell a variety of items. At this peticular auction house we will cater only to items of the most precious nature and extreme value. Our goal is not to alienate those whom are less financially sound. We are constantly giving away money and prizes for merely stepping in the front doors and saying hello. As of yet the auction house has not been slated for an opening, as my staff and I are still working out some of the flaws in our system. When we decided to open this casino, we were well aware of the flawed attempts in the past. Either the location was wrong, the games were not statistically correct, or the casino itself was not able to financially sustain profitability. I was aware of this, because I have attempted to run a casino on two seperate occassions and I have also visited numerous others on GL as well as multiple shards. Now I beleive that we have finally come up with the correct model. Let me give you a few facts about the casino.

We had our grand opening Friday Night, the 12th. We try to open everyday in the evening around 6-7pm est, and stay open as long as there is interest. The minimum wager is always 100k and the maximum wager is 3 million gold. Unless posted otherwise. It is the managements discretion to accept wagers over the table maximum. Our biggest wager to date has been 30 million gold on a single roll. The house lost. :-) The casino will always have enough gold on hand to cover any and all bets made. We keep 250 million gold on hand every night that we open.We currently have five games and we are working on balancing out several more for the future. As of now we have Blackjack, Craps, Roulette, War, and our most popular game Hi-Lo Lucky 7. Contrary to popular belief about casinos, our establishment holds a very *slight* edge in all games in terms of probablity. Of all the games, our highest edge is only 15%. This means there is a much HIGHER chance of a player being able to come into our establishment and walk out with a ton of gold. 90% of all profits made by the casino go towards operating costs, and future events and giveaways that we have planned. Stay turned until Xmas time. Alot of people are going to be pleasently suprised.




You are the GM of this event guild. What is the formal full length title of your guild, its goals and membership at this time? First of all, we are an RP (Role Playing) guild. Which means we try to stay in character whenever possible. We tend to matters regarding city goverment, and all members of the council have an official title as well obligations and responsibilities they must fulfill to retain there positions. We are presently involved in a very large alliance known as, "The Britannian Alliance" which is basically a collection of some of the other larger, well known RP guilds on the shard. There are 19 guilds in all. Including, The Royal Knights of Virtue (RKV), Yew Town Council (Yew), Order of the Ethreal Ankh (OEA), and Kazola's Tavern {KTKW) just to name a very few. Sorry to those whom I did not mention, you are all equally important.

I am the Guildmaster of the Britain City Council. We are a group of veteran players whom have seen and done everything there is to do in UO. Alot of our members have plays 8+ years. Our goal is to have fun and serve our community. It is my personal mission to support the playerbase on Great Lakes by giving away money and items. All of us have a fanatical desire to help new players, because we understand that while we have played forever, and earned more than we will ever possibly use, there are others who are still just joining our game and struggling. We are here for them. Without new players coming in to play and pay, UO will fall into decline. And on Great Lakes, at least, we are bound and determined not to see that happen. Don't come up to us and ask us for money. We all have a very keen eye and can spot those players whom are truly in need, and those whom are just looking for a handout. In terms of membership, the BCC is broken into two seperate factions. The first is the city council, of which I am the head. One cannot become a council member before first rising through the ranks of our military system. Our military branch, known as the DoH! (The Dragons of Honor) is chaired by two warlords, Striker, and WALLACE. Two of the fiercest warriors this land as ever known. There duties are numerous and there overall job is to keep the city of Britain and its allies safe from harm at all cost. If anyone is interested in a life of service, I would suggest contacting either of those two gentlemen. Any requests made directly to me shall be ignored, as you must go through the proper channels to be recognized.


* Gaters are important to the success of any player run event *


I was around Luna when the auction/casino plot was IDOC and it caused a big stir about town. The plot is now owned by Rachel. Can you tell us anything about the history of this plot, its IDOC and the new owner?
I was also around when this building fell and it caused quite the frenzy indeed! As to whom placed the original plot, I am unaware. This building is a joint venture between the BCC and "The Museum of Great Lakes" which is located directly next door and is owned by Lord Of The Rings. By far our shards richest man and a true philanthropist in every sense of the word. I invite any who frequent the new facilities to please stop by the Museum. It is filled with all sorts of marvelous and unique items. Some of which you will deffinetly see for sale in our upcoming auctions in the next few weeks.



You call yourself "Mayor of Britain ". On a more personal note, why this title, how long have you been playing UO and how/when did you first hear of this game?
The BCC has been around for sometime now and I would say that the actual players whom are merchants and operate around the bank would consider us to be the leadership and recognized governing body of Britain. Previous to holding this title, pre trammel I was the mayor of the glorious mining community of Minoc. For those whom wish to dispute this claim, they can find my mark inside the bank. If you stand in the south east corner and use a circle of transparency, you will see a deck of cards that I accidentally placed on the floor more than 8 years ago.

So in terms of how long I have played UO, it has been on and off since the very beginning and exclusively on Great Lakes. I have take three 6 month breaks over the past 10 years. Sometimes I just get burned out. I can tell you one thing. My neighbor introduced me to this game when I was 14 years old and I was a freshman in highschool. Now I am in my late 20's and I have much less hair on my head than when I started playing UO. But I really wouldn't have it any other way. Alot of people say that UO is in decline, but I do not believe that. Look at the turn out of the gathering of the guilds. 100's of people showed up. The players are out there, they exist. Us older veteran players just have to find a way to engage them and keep there interest. Hopefully we will do our jobs.



Note: http://uorpc.net This website is going to be the future home of all RP on GL.

Last Tuesday afternoon I rode towards Luna - the weather was cloudy and chilly. After a long time I had found another vict... err, candidate for my curious questions. This time it was Lily of the West with whom I had scheduled a meeting. From far away I saw her black robe swallowing the light at the bank. Beside her, her green Paroxysmus-Dragon was breathing small clouds of hot air into the sky. I returned her broad smile and greeted her, and soon we were standing in front of her castle near Minoc. In the entrance hall I was greeted by numerous artifacts, tasteful decorations like bonepiles and -furniture, lots of candles and old statues from ancient times. Brightly polished spiderwebs were sitting in the corner of the room and together with the candles they made an snugly home. A short moment later we were upstairs, where Lily was sitting on a comfy bone-chair and I on my precious granite-stone-seat.

Soon we talked about her four brothers and her sister who came with her to beautiful Sosaria. We also talked about her name and why she loved modern music so much. «Dob Bylan had once a very famous and very nice song with this title, that's were my name's coming from», she smirked: «It was very popular back then.» Since countless moons Lily's family had lived in Sosaria and had become domestic. «We were separated from this land only a few times.» But the funniest and wierdest contacts they made were in our lands. «When the migration from the continents began, I think it was good for the quality of our citizens», she smiled patronizingly behind her sunglasses. «Altough I enjoy the scenery where a lot is happening and where lots of people are, where the action is.»

Despite Lily's high standard concering thrills, entertainment and its corresponding rewards she didn't seem to be a grim person like some of our fellow citizens. «That's right», she confirmed calmly: «I am also very fond of lending a helping hand if the worst comes to the worst.» In the past years she had enough opportunities to experience interpersonal situations - with blasphemy, cursing and laughter. Of course the old times made up a big chunk of it . «For example there was this PK who had killed me at the Trinsic Moongate. He was rummaging through my body and found my armor with his blacksmith insignias on it. He resurrected me and gave me back all my stuff... he had no idea that I was a customer of his.» Our resounding laughter made the candles jittering. And the next anecdote was already upon us. «Or, one of the last weeks, there was an individual in our faction which was elected to the boss position and afterwards claimed 100% taxes. As soon as my enemies heard that they gave me their silver...» I laughed till my stomach hurt.

The talkative and funny elven woman gathered momentum. «I can't shut up, I always have to talk, even during the toughtest fights», she said and her big grin changed to a slightly more serious face. «But when I sense something out of order, I still stay polite but keep my distance.» Into the early evening we talked about politics and infamous scheming, about far travels and their experiences. But none the less I had to hit the road. After a short detour to the bank the delicate elfen woman disappeared into the crowd and her «Toodle-oo!» stayed with me for a while...

Biography of Lily of the West
Name: Lily of the West, G^A
Profession: Poison-fencer
Arrival in Sosaria: 2000
Favourite place: everywhere where my friends are, where the action is
Occupation: chatterin' and fightin'
Favourite character: Bashers
What do you prefer...
Summer or winter? I don't burn wood in the winter and when its summer I'm happy its warm ;-)
Black or white? Black, but only on the second glance
Loud or faint? It has become fainter, but it's still loud enough
Poor or rich? I hate poor!

***

Am letzten Dienstag Nachmittag ritt ich bei leicht bewölktem und kühlem Wetter nach Luna hinein. Nach langer Zeit hatte ich endlich mal wieder ein Opf... ehm, eine Kandidatin für meine neugierigen Fragen gefunden. Diesmal hatte ich mit Lily of the West ein Treffen vereinbart. Von weitem sah ich ihre tiefschwarze Robe an der Bank das Licht verschlucken, daneben stand ihr grosses grünes Ungetüm, der Paroxysmus-Drachenbegleiter schnaufte laut in die kalte Nachmittagsluft hinaus, so dass man seinen Atem sah. Ihr breites Grinsen erwidernd begrüsste ich sie und schon bald darauf standen wir vor ihrem Schloss in der Nähe von Minoc. In der Eingangshalle lachten mich unzähle Artifakte an und geschmackvolle Dekorationen wie Knochenhaufen und -Möbel, alte Statuen und auf Hochglanz polierte Spinnennetze zierten die Ecken - hier liess es sich wahrhaftig gemütlich wohnen! Wenig später machten wir es uns aber im ersten Stock gemütlich, wo sich Lily auf einen bequemen Knochenstuhl unter einem riesigen Spinnennetz platzierte und ich meinen heissgeliebten Sitzstein endlich mal wieder verwenden konnte.

Schon bald sprachen wir über ihre vier Brüder und ihre Schwester die sie mit nach Sosaria begleitet hatten, wie sie zu ihren Namen kamen und warum Lily moderne Musik so gut mochte. «Dob Bylan hatte mal einen so berühmten tollen Song mit diesem Titel, darum mein Name», schmunzelte sie: «Der war damals hoch im Kurs.» Seit fast unzählbaren Monden hätte sich ihre Familie in Sosaria niedergelassen. «Wir sind nur einige wenige und kurze Male getrennt von diesem schönen Land gewesen.» Die ulkigsten und lustigsten Bekanntschaften aber hätte sie hier erlebt. «Als so ein wenig die Abwanderung vom Kontinent begann, das hat der Qualität der Bevölkerung gut getan, wie ich finde», lächelte sie gönnerhaft hinter ihrer Sonnenbrille hervor. «Obwohl ich auch sehr gerne dort bin, wo viel läuft und passiert, wo viele Leute sind und es Action gibt.»

Trotz des hohen Anspruches an Spannung, Unterhaltung und dementsprechender Belohnung machte Lily auf mich nicht diesen verbissenen Eindruck, den man ab und zu bei anderen Mitstreitern erkennen konnte. «Das stimmt», bestätigte sie: «Ich bin sehr gerne auch nur helfende Hand, wenn gerade mal Not an der Frau ist.» Ausserdem hätte sie in den vielen Jahren genügend Gelegenheit gehabt um Zwischenmenschliches zu erleben, das einem zum Lästern, Fluchen und natürlich auch Lachen gebracht hätte. Die alten Zeiten wären da speziell erwähnenswert. «Da war zum Beispiel dieser PK, der mich am Trinsic Mondtor aus den Socken hob. Er wühlte dann so durch meine Leiche und fand seine Schmiedesachen bei mir. Er hat mich dann wiederbelebt und mir alle Sachen wieder gegeben - er hatte ja keine Ahnung, dass ich eine Kundin war.» Unser schallendes Lachen brachte die Kerzen im Raum zum Flackern und uns zur nächsten Anekdote, die meinem Zwerchfell zu noch mehr Arbeit verhalf. «Oder da war letztens noch dieses Individuum in der Faction, das sich auf die Schnelle wählen liess und dann die Steuer auf 100% setzte. Als meine Feinde davon erfuhren haben sie mir ihr Silber geschenkt...»

Die redselige und lustige Elfen-Frau kam nun in Fahrt. «Ich bin ja gern am rumquatschen, nichtmal beim Jagen kann ich es lassen», liess sie sich vernehmen, das schalkhafte Grinsen wurde dann aber ein wenig ernster. «Wenn ich aber spüre, dass etwas nicht in Ordnung ist, wahre ich die Höflichkeit, gehe aber auch auf eine gewisse Distanz.» Bis in den frühen Abend hinein plauderten wir noch über Politik und deren unrühmliche Machenschaften, über weite Reisen und Erfahrungen dabei, bis ich dann schlussendlich doch aufbrechen musste. Nach einem kurzen Abstecher zurück zur Bank verschwand die zierliche Elfe dann im allgemeinen Gewusel, ihr «'Schüsschen!» hallte mir noch lange in den Ohren.

Steckbrief von Lily of the West
Name: Lily of the West, G^A
Beruf: Gift-Fechterin
Ankunft in Sosaria: 2000
Lieblingsort: überall wo meine Freunde sind bzw. wo etwas los ist
Lieblingsbeschäftigung: reden und kämpfen
Lieblingscharakter: Kämpfer
Was magst du lieber...
Sommer oder Winter? Im Winter heize ich nicht und im Sommer bin ich froh dass es warm ist ;-)
Schwarz oder Weiss? Schwarz, aber erst auf den zweiten Blick
Laut oder Leise? Ist zwar leiser geworden, aber immer noch laut genug
Arm oder Reich? Ich hasse arm!

Farewell, auf bald!
~ Medea

It was an odd sort of day for me, with no definite plans to go after any peerless. And just glad to be on the recovering side of being quite ill. I was fully intending on simply logging in and beginning my long uphill battle with skilling up a carpenter. When I happened to cross paths with my Ole' pal Robin Hood. He was accompanied by a friend that went by the name of Galeclie. They were helping a young man with finding his way to Bedlam. I had only intended on opening a moongate for the three of them to all meet easily at the same place to go after the peerless known as: Monstrous Interred Grizzle. I had never intended on going along, but in the end I was extremely happy that I got the opportunity to go. I must say that I believe that it may have been up to two hours long to obtain the keys to even get to the Interred Grizzle, being the longest part of the adventure. Once we had the 5 keys though we picked up a few more adventurers, some by the name of Frog Sorcerer, Dr Who and a few others whose name, sadly, escapes me.

At times it seemed the battle was a lost cause, with Robin Hood using the Noble Sacrifice ability to bring many back into the battle (myself included). With a steady arm he also landed many devastating blows with his crossbow. I have no problem with giving him the credit for keeping the entire event organized.

With the help of all, mages, necros, tamers and archers we did finally bring the foul creature to its end.

I know I wasn't much help, and as always I am seen either in a death robe or with my bear mask on. But I definitely had a blast. Thank you all who helped out tonight.

-Hagrid

The following are our Auctions for this week on Lake Superior:

NeXt Auction

Date:  Tuesday, December 16th

Time:  7:00 p.m. CST

Location:  South of Luna City

Contact: Meani – ICQ 65-689-918

Monday night The Madness Crew at the MOA Ice Castle are running Chests of Doom and Delight with Santa making an appearance.

Wednesday and thursday evenings after the MOA auction Santa will also show up at the end to give away holiday cheer and presents to all !

Thursday night the Royal Knights of Virture are hosting a Yule Ball and Decication Ceremony at 8 PM central time.

Gates will be provided from major banks to these events.

The week ends with those crazy salty dogs from the FCB hosting one of their famous net toss.



Also known as a Sea Serpent Slaughter, this is a free public event at the Buccaneer's Den docks in Trammel. It will be held Sunday Dec. 21 at 9:00 p.m. EST. The fishers of the FCB donate hundreds of nets, and they toss them off then end of the dock. Much murder and mayhem ensures! Rezzing is available at the end of the dock (you'll need it!). To make it more fun, they ask that you do NOT use pets, summoned creatures, or provocation. Oh yes--and the public gets to keep the loot!

It is starting to look a lot like Christmas all over Great Lakes and the jolly old man in the red suit will soon be making appearances.

As shown and stated in an earlier article the MOA Ice Castle is decked out for the holidays and this monday the game is my favorite, Chests of Doom and Delight.
This will be their big Christmas Event and rumor has it Santa will stop by. Prizes will be worth 1/2 million or more. Will and Crew hope many of you attend. I know I will be there.

The MOA auction house is decked out for the holidays also and Santa will be handing out gifts both wednesday and thursday evenings after the auction. Pratt tells me the gifts will be bigger and better than last year ! That is hard to believe.



* MOA rooftop is set up for Santa's arrival, chair and all *



The holiday decor screenshots are still flowing in and I am loving it.
Below are a few more.


Dani has been dropping runes to her Christmas tree which is full of packages holding free gifts for all. I dropped a few in myself. FiFi LaForge's holiday rooftop is doing the same thing which I think is a fun great idea. Thank you FiFi for the lovely book you left on my doorstep the other day full of holiday cheer.



Not only has Dani decorated her house for the holidays she has gone all the way with her holiday spirit. I ran into her at the MOA auction this past week and she is spreading cheer and joy by proudly wearing the colors of the season. A little red and green never hurt anyone I say.



More holiday decor ...... ~







Below is a image sent to me and I have included the text that came with it though there was no signature.



"This is my first X-mas in UO. I have been collecting X-mas deco for 10 months now, and couldn't wait to use it. I don't think I've EVER been so anxious for winter to come.Happy Holidays to All !! <:-}"

Posted to uoherald.com:

December Developer Letter
Calvin Crowner
12 Dec 2008 18:09:16 EST

For the record what I am about to write is “so not my gig”, but I’ll endeavor to push through it.

I wanted to pass on that with the recent announcement of earning from Electronic Arts that the Ultima Online team is still intact and still pressing forward on both the Stygian Abyss Expansion, and supporting the Live Game. In addition, we are still moving forward with the Event Moderator Program. I know it’s been a long time coming, but as you may have read we’re going through more than a bit from our side these days.

For us, the team is actually having a great time coming up with diabolical ways to engage you for the foreseeable millennium, or until 2012 when the Mayan calendar says everything will end – whichever comes first.

We’re preparing both the New UO client and the first completely playable level to internal testers next week. We are also planning how we want to run beta internally and externally, and as soon as we have a complete answer on it all, we’ll inform you as well.

About Event Moderators: there has been a lot of speculation on how we chose who we chose, why some were selected and others were passed over. I can tell you this: we read for content before we read names. There was no favoritism in any part of the team, and I can say there was a bit of common sense in selecting who went to which shards. We also selected a mixed team of experienced members, and not-so experienced members. We eliminated anyone who had legitimate marks on their accounts, or anyone who had “great intentions” but no event experience at all. In short we picked an initial team that would best serve the community, and whose applications seemed to have the community’s best interest in mind.

We will continue to grow, adjust, and evolve the EM program as we go. We have kept everyone’s applications on file, and have a backup list of Event Moderator contributors. Some EMs may not be able to fulfill their duties so we will be selecting from the initial batch for anyone who is not able to commit as they planned. Life happens.

Finally, we’ve been tracking the latency issues since their inception. We tested the impact of the Invasion and other associated events in game and found none of the additional content impacted lag. We’re constantly following up with trace routes that some players have contributed and our World Wide IT team is in contact with the external carrier we think may be the key to the problem. The more data we have the better, so have your friends create an account and send us all the information you have. Wink.

I sincerely hope this answers a few questions or concerns. Now, I have to go help Leurocian figure out how Baby Bach really can be used as an educational tool, and why puppets should be a new system in UO.

Posted to uoherald.com:

Publish 57 on TC1
Robert Mull
12 Dec 2008 17:53:29

Publish 57 has gone live on TC1. Patch notes are available in the Regular Place

Also, please note that instead of a Five on Friday today, we will be having a letter from Producer Calvin Crowner.

Great Lakes has a long history of player run events and none ranks higher than that of the Gathering of the Guilds.

This gathering is an opportunity for old friends to unite and to make new ones and it is happening this sunday.

The main focus has always been for guilds to recruit new members but more importantly for those looking to join a guild to see which guilds are out there and ask questions to see if a certain guild it a good fit for them.

It will be 5 PM Sunday Eastern December 14th and gates will be provided at all major banks with easy entry to the gathering location.

For those guilds that have already committed or any that may want to be involved please contact Mystra. ICQ (7489459)

I have attended all past Gathering of the Guilds, reported on them and had a great time. Sad but true I cannot attend this year because I am hosting a holiday party in real life. During the formative stages saturday was mentioned so I planned my holiday party on sunday.
Please forward screenshots and any information on this events to me. I would appreciate it greatly.

Whether you are looking for a new guild or just have time to come chat with friends take the time attend!

The following are our Auctions for this week on Lake Superior:

YGV Auction

Date:  Thursday, December 11th

Time:  7:00 p.m. CST

Location:  Northwest of Yew Moongate

Last week I posted a few plots decorated for the holiday season and asked to see more. With the activation of Christmas trees many more have been inspired to decorate. Runes has been dropped at my doorstep, PMs have filtered in and emails arrived and I am here to share a few with you. Keep the decor coming! Happy, happy, happy.



Rachel at CFC claims "We have redone the CFC house for the holidays. It's hard to work holiday spirit and chicken blood together, but I believe we did it."


Carmen of DC* not only was inspired by the Christmas trees but also by the gift boxes. 70 gift boxes were used in this design.


I stopped by MOA Ice Castle this past monday just as game night started. They were happy they decorated for the holidays.


HAVE A MERRY YEAR vendor shop owned by Mrs Santa Kluase


Santa's Workshop owned by FiFi LaForge. FiFi has been a busy girl, runes are ropped daily to this location all over Brit and Luna. Be sure to check it out.


Ivy always does a tasteful job accenting with seasonal trim


Mossy Rock Florist owned by Sass and VIDMA in Luna


W-R Library glows for the holidays


The city of Zento is a little merrier with Ace's place festooned for the season

Posted to uoherald.com's Five on Friday:

FoF: Bandaids and Thieves
Joanne Laroche
05 Dec 2008 16:25:49

The Five on Friday is back after the holiday weekend and we've filled it with your questions. In this week's edition we've got questions about thieves, faction points and much more!

“The faction bandaids have proven themselves to be over powered.  With dexers  combining an apple every 10-15 seconds along with a 4-5 second bandage it makes it nearly impossible to kill one on a decent connection (For mages and dexers).  Are there plans to balance them?”

We will be adding a cooldown to the bandages.  They will either have a 30-second cooldown OR will share the same 15-second timer as the apples so players cannot use both at the same time.  This will be adjusted in Publish 58.

--

“When are thieves ever going to get some love?”

In Publish 57, stealing from monsters will be reactivated.  You will be able to steal gold, bandages, potions, scrolls and reagents from any monster (only one successful theft allowed per monster).  Thieves with GM skills and higher will have a chance of receiving one of the 9 rare consumable items when stealing from monsters in Champion Spawn areas (all facets) or from any monster in Felucca Dungeons and T2A.  Here are some examples of the rare consumables:

Mana Draught: player drinking this beverage instantly recovers between 25 to 40 mana points. 10 minute cooldown.

Life Shield Lotion: when applied, reduces by 50% to 100% the Life Drain damage (such as dealt by Succubus and Tentacles of the Harrower). The resistance chance is rolled for each tick and cannot be combined with any other Balms or Lotions.  Duration 30 minutes.

Balm of Strength: when applied, player benefits for a 10 HP increase for 30 mins.  Cannot be combined with any other Balms or Lotions.

--

“What will be the drop rate on the Replicas and will the Harrower be giving Replicas as well?”

The drop rate breakdown is as follows:

5% chance of a unique item
15% chance of a decorative item
10% chance of a shared reward

The Harrower has a couple replicas and decorative items, based on the same drop rates.  However, it will not drop any of the shared rewards.

--

“Some Faction rewards never lose durability. Is this going to be addressed and should we expect the same thing from the new Replicas?”

We are aware of this issue and are working on fixing it.  Also, some of the new Replicas will not sustain durability loss.  We expect to have the fix in Publish 58 at which point all existing Faction Rewards and Replicas will start losing durability.

--

"What’s the deal with Faction Points?”

We are looking into making some adjustments to point farming and fixing this issue.

--

“Are we getting the same holiday gifts as last year and how do we have to log on to get them?”

You will be getting new holiday gifts this year.  But you must log in with your qualifying characters (i.e. characters 30 days and older) to receive your gift.  The holiday gifts will be activated when Publish 57 goes live and can be collected up until January 19, 2009.

--

“Will we ever be able to identify the seeds before we grow them?”

Yes!  After Publish 57 goes live, check the resource menu of your peculiar plants. You might see something new!

--

“I’m really confused about the whole vendor penalty thing.  How does that work?”

Whenever you place a new item for sale on your vendor, you have a 30-minute grace period to change your mind about leaving the item on your vendor or changing the price on it. 

If you remove an item that has been on the vendor for more than 30 minutes but less than 24 hours, you will be charged a penalty which is a small percentage of the sale price the item was set at. 

Once the item has been on your vendor more than 24 hours, any penalty is waived and you may remove it at any time.  If you replace the item on your vendor after that though, the same system applies.

You never pay a penalty if the item is bought off of your vendor, regardless of the time it was placed on it.

--

Fansite News:

SHE Guild Auction

Now in its 4th year of service to Chesapeake.

Auctions every Sat 7pm est.  Gates from Luna, as well there are hundreds of runes dropped each week.

--

Holiday Magic Events on Sonoma...

Share the Magic ~ of the holiday season with the exchange of Secret Santa gifts. On December 21st we are holding an Old Fashioned Holiday Party which includes a Secret Santa gift exchange.

For those of you who are not familiar with Secret Santa, here is how it works. Players submit their names for a random drawing. Each name is drawn is drawn and matched with the next name drawn until no names remain. The each player is notified of who they are preparing their Secret Santa for. The part that makes it secret is that the player receiving the gift never knows who the gift came from.

Secret Santa registration begins now until Sunday, December 14th at 5pm Pacific (7pm CT, 8pm ET). On Monday, December 15th, we will draw from the registered players and contact them with who they are Secret Santa for.

Before the party on Sunday, December 21st (5pm PT), you can deliver your Secret Santa gift to Queen Mum to hand out during the event. Don't worry if you can't attend the party, she will make sure that your gift exchange is completed.

Register today by contacting Queen Mum at ICQ 168-812-018 or by PM on the Sonoma boards at Stratics (www.stratics.com) and UO Forums (www.uoforums.com).

~~~~~~~

Share the Magic ~ with the annual Sonoma Community Holiday Home Tour & Decorating Contest. Entries accepted until Friday, December 26th at 5pm PT (7pm CT, 8pm ET).

Contact Queen Mum at ICQ 168-812-018 - or by PM on the Sonoma boards at Stratics (www.stratics.com) and UO Forums (www.uoforums.com) for complete details. Watch next weeks FoF for more information.

~~~~~~~

Share the Magic ~ of the holiday season with Santa's Night Out! Keep your wits sharp and your eyes peeled for Santa on Friday, December 12th! He'll be out and about the towns visiting all the good, and maybe the naughty, boys and girls of Sonoma starting around 5pm Pacific (7pm Central, 8pm Eastern) handing out lots of presents and plenty of goodies!

You're likely to see him around the various banks of the land, so don't be shy, go right up to him and say Happy Holidays!! There's no telling what kind of fun stuff he'll be handing out, but we are sure they will be delightful!

Santa and his helpers will also be delivering "Share the Magic ..." of the holiday season books with news about exciting parties, contests, and all the events being held through January 1st.

~~~~~~~

"Share the Magic" Celebration! Saturday, December 13th starting at 5:00pm Pacific Time (7pm Central, 8pm Eastern) at the Sugar Plum Inn (Karns Vendors & PAS Community Hall) in Luna. Enjoy the sights & sounds of the season as members of the Peoples Army of Sonoma & Sonoma Community Coalition welcomes everyone with spirited fun, laughter & the merriment of gift giving with frolicking games by the Elves.

Come one, come all and help kick off the Holiday season with a night of magical delightful fun & special surprises for everyone!

--

Interested in having your event posted on the Five on Friday? Make sure to send in all the details through the Feedback Form and selecting "Fan Site News" from the drop down menu. All entries must be received no later then Thursday at midnight for the FoF you want it in. Please note: All entries are subject to editing.

--

Announcements:

Would you like to see your question answered in a future Five on Friday? Well don’t wait any longer, send it in through our handy Feedback Form and select “Five on Friday Questions” from the list. We look forward to hearing from you!

Just a head’s up that next week we’ll be announcing a new contest here on the Herald that is bound to keep you busy during the upcoming holiday season. We’ll have all the details for you next week including what you can win so keep an eye here for all the info.

That’s it for this week’s Five on Friday, I hope y’all have a great weekend!

Santa Claus will be visiting Chesapeake! After what I first thought was an orc-perpetrated joke, I have come to learn from an informed source that Santa Claus himself will be stopping by Chesapeake!

Santa will be landing his sleigh on the roof of the Red Wolf Cafe in Gyldenfeld the evening of Monday, December 8th at 8:30 PM EST to share some holiday cheer.

Have you been a good little rezzer of wayward newbies in the Tram dungeons this year or have you been a bad little smacktalking ganker of afk people in Fel?

Come to the Red Wolf Cafe on Monday, December 8th at 8:30 PM EST to plead your case to Santa himself and tell him what you'd most like this year! Surprises and goodies await for all as well as photo opportunities with the big man himself.

Even though elves may be present as they often labor for Santa in his toy swea, err, "work" shops, orcs are also welcome!

Stop by the Gyldenfeld Bakery and Market to pickup some cookies as no one has ever said Santa couldn't be bought off, or even the Teeny Tiny Greenhouse for some flowers(Santa could sure use them to give to Mrs. Claus as he's been working long hours to get ready for Christmas).

To reach Gyldenfeld, take the road west out of Britain in Trammel until you reach the crossroads. The Red Wolf Cafe is the first large structure on the left as you head north from the crossroads.

The Red Wolf Cafe, located in the player-town of Gyldenfeld near the Britain/Skara crossroads in Trammel is a site of occasional player-run, public events. There is never an entry fee and the public is always invited!

The cafe was founded in an attempt to foster more shardwide, player-run events and happenings. Starting off as a small, roadside shack in 2003, it has moved and expanded to a bigger and better location and we hope it will continue to provide a fun and friendly place for the citizens of the realm to relax, meet new friends and enjoy the activities.

Tancred RedStar

The Black Market (Saturday, Dec 6th, 8pm EST)

The United Pirates of Catskills announce the next Black Market event for Dec. 6th, 8 pm EST! This recurring in-game trading and auctioning event (every first Saturday of the Month) will be accompanied by entertaining elements. During this event, you can sell, buy or trade your wares! The facts:

* Merchants can claim a personal market stand where they can advertise and sell their products. The merchants should enter the list of their products into the book locked down on their market stand (at least one day prior to the event, so people can come by and check on the items).

* The prices should be LOWER than the regular Luna vendor prices! Bargaining is encouraged!

* Are you looking for a certain item? You can post your request on the bulletin board out front of the Black Market. Merchants can check the board beforehand and have the appropriate items ready for sale. The board will be wiped after the Black Market is over.

* We may hold games and duels for all participants and visitors. It will be fun!

If you want to sell contraband, you can simply come to the Black Market building prior to the event and enter your name and your item list into one of the (empty) books on the market stands. By doing that you have claimed the market stand and may use it exclusively during the event. The Black Market building is located next to our Jolly Roger Inn. Map:

The following are our Auctions for this week on Lake Superior:

NeXt Auction

Date:  Tuesday, December 2nd

Time:  7:00 p.m. CST

Location:  South of Luna City

Contact: Meani – ICQ 65-689-918

YGV Auction

Date:  Thursday, December 4th

Time:  7:00 p.m. CST

Location:  Northwest of Yew Moongate

BEC Auction

Date:  Friday, December 5th

Time:  8:00 pm CST

Location:  South of Luna City

Contact:  Lady Tia - ICQ 23944805