Monday Night Madness got off to a rocky start this week. First, Will got there late due to the patch. When he got there the house was in an uproar due to some immature people. A few people were removed and some banned. There were a few deaths during the night.



We played Poison Apple and Spaz picked the box with the apple that killed our hostess, Demi. Later in the evening, Will and Walter battled it out during Clash of the Titans, with Will coming out on top. The last time they fought Walter won so this evened up the score. Raven was our big winner of the night. She came in third in Flipped Out but traded for the box that contained a Clothing Bless Deed. She then answered the last mini deal of the night and won a check for 100k.

We wish to thank all of our patrons who attended. We will have another event in 2 weeks, announcements to follow later.

Posted to uoherald.com:

Test Center Is Going Down For Updates
Jeremy Dalberg 30 Apr 2008 18:00:54

TC1 is being brought internal in preparation for another publish. To see the complete notes, including turn-in and reward point values, click Here

Labyrinth (Malas - 56° 36' North 28° 37' East)

"An immense avalanche has revealed the existence of a previously inaccessible ancient structure. Through a winding gorge, players descend to the crumbling edifice built into the cliff wall. The mysterious building is covered in bas relief sculptures of terrifying men-beasts, with bull heads and powerful human torsos. The building is smaller than the exterior would suggest and exits into an immense courtyard, open to the sky and surrounded by other buildings to explore.

Portions of the ancient city are still inhabited by its founders, the minotaur. Meraktus, a powerful tormented minotaur (champion spawn) rules her people from the center of an ornate labyrinth. Scavengers and winged creatures have nests and dens in ruined portions of the city including: Scorpions, Air Elementals, Drakes, Chimaera, and a Phoenix."

Plan:
- 9 PM EST, Prism of Light Focus (if you are poor, gold will be supplied by the entrance)
- 9.15 PM... Labyrinth under siege.

Specific tactics:
- Move slowly but surely into the Core (stone building)
- Cross heal and avoid being a target
- The many buildings provide safe niches where you can vet your dragon, stand behind your earth elementals...
- Para Fields will be VERY helpfull...
- Units of necros can clean the entire area...FAST (remember to have an appointed healer)
- Talismans of Cow Slaying will work (duh)
- Repond Weapons
- Gather the blessed minotaur artefacts for a later quest
- SKIN them all for extra resources
- Be extra carefull with the phoenix (area damage)
- Pull the miasmas and other tough monsters SOUTH if you feel like it.

What to expect:
- The Minotaur Spawn in Labyrinth Dungeon is the only known Champion Spawn without an altar. Simply by killing spawn near the back of the dungeon, stronger spawn will appear. There are two system messages that are broadcast each time the spawn level advances:

A minotaur captain barks an order to his fellow scouts, "Aid the others! Kill the invaders!"
A minotaur captain bellows, "Meraktus has arrived!"
Then Meraktus the Tormented appears. Meraktus the Tormented Minotaur is the Peerless champion in the Labyrinth. Meraktus has only been summoned a few times. He has an area effect that is brutal, so if he's summoned, be careful. He also has an attendant spawn of 4 Tormented Minotaurs

There are no known special rewards for completing this difficult spawn... but we'll offer a wheel of cheese to everyone...

(The only requirement to enter the dungeon is access to Mondain's Legacy content.)

DO COME INSURED and if you need insurance gold do ask, so you have a safety net...

Taking a much needed rest from the Moonglow slaughter last night I stopped by the Brit Bank which I have not done in months.



The bank was a steaming bed of commerce and drama as always. Some things just never change, even after seven years plus.
In the past often I would enter gates at the bank just to see what I might see and I did just that last night and I was transported to a lovely shop on waters edge. It is owned and created by Madonna.



Nicely designed with a player created fountain the vendors offered much in the way of needs and luxuries.





The owner was AFK during my visit so we did not get a chance to chat but by the looks of things even more vendors will be added.
The cords to this shop are 168o 55'S, 140o 34'N

If you would like me to stop by your shop PM me and I would be more than happy to take a tour.

Posted to uoherald.com:

Test Center Has Been Updated
Jeremy Dalberg 28 Apr 2008 16:32:20

TC1 has been updated with the following:

Factions

In order to promote accessibility and invigorate Factions, we’ve made several changes and fixed some bugs. Additionally, Factions will play an important role in the Warriors of Destiny plot arc.

• Faction size limit and load balancer removed: individual factions can grow to any size. Previously capped at 200.
  
• Multiple characters from the same account may join the same faction
  
• An account cannot have characters in different factions on the same shard
  
• Removed 30 day character age requirement
  
• “Young” players cannot join factions
  
• “Young” players will be removed from guilds that join factions
  
• One vote in faction elections per account
  
• Only one character per account may run in the elections
  
• Quit time reduced from 7 days to 3 days
  

 

Spring Cleaning 2008

Ah, how time flies. Spring has come once again to Britannia, but the sweet smell of blossoming flowers outside our homes can’t belie the memories of battles fought long so very long ago. Or is that the chest overflowing with Ophidian weapons in the corner? Or maybe it’s the bag of cursed artifacts hidden upstairs?

 

Time to cleanup, Britannia!

 

·        Publish 52 institutes the first round of Spring Cleaning collections and rewards

·        Four NPCs around the world collect items in exchange for tickets

·        The tickets can be redeemed for rewards in a new community collection

·        Rewards:

-        Shirts

·        Comes with one phrase of choice

·        Blessed

·        Dyable

-        Nocturne Earrings

·        Grayish silver

·        Night Sight

-        RBG Sashes

·        “Royal Britannia Guard”

·        One color per Virtue/Town

·        Blessed

-        Scroll of Alacrity

·        Increase skill gain for 15 minutes in the scroll’s skill

·        Skill is randomly set once redeemed from the collection

-        Sherry the Mouse Statue

·        Larger than life statue of Sherry, in marble

·        Will be hooked into the Town Crier system in Publish 53

-        Snake Skin Boots

·        Random snake skin hue

·        +2% Poison Resist

-        Knight’s Armor

·        White

·        Each piece has 7% resists, +1 HP

·        Total: 42% resists, +6HP as a set of 6 items

·        Turn-Ins

-        Makiko the Samurai

·        Turnins:

-        Ophidian Journals

-        Ophidian Orders

·        Zento, Rokuon Cultural Center, 1st Floor

-        Lozat the Numismatist

·        Turnins:

-        Copper Shilling

-        Silver Crown

-        Gold Sovereign

·        Britain (Trammel), East Britain Bank

-        Calaid the Soldier

·        Turnins:

-        Ophidian Rations

-        Slippery Snake Skins

·        Britain (Trammel), North guard tower at Castle Britannia entrance

·        Siege: Guard tower southwest of West Britain Bank

-        Onoe the Soldier

·        Turnins:

 

 -        Cursed Artifacts

-        Magincia Rubble

-        Planesword

-        Planeshield

-        Staff of Pyros

-        Vorpal Blade

-        Magical Weapons (Power, Vanquishing, Mystic)

-        Ophidian Weapons (Power, Vanquishing, Mystic)

-        Berserker’s Scythe

-        Ophidian Berserker’s Bardiche

-        Invalis’s Burchete

·        Britain (Trammel), South guard tower at Castle Britannia entrance

·        Siege: Guard tower southwest of West Britain Bank

 

 

·        Community collection box

-        Located with Onoe the Soldier

 

 

Bug Fixes:

 

Fixed a bug where players that use the Basket of Herbs could lose 20 points of cooking when the effect wears off instead of 10 points of cooking.
Explosion potion should no longer go off and reveal the player if the player is in no play mode (character transfer).
Pet release gump should now closed the moment a player is in no play mode during a character transfer.
Players should no longer be able to stable pets while a pet trade gump is open.
Spellweaving: Essence of Wind. Casting Speed and SSI debuff potency have been flip flopped
Fixed an issue with Ronin not being able to access secures in their own houses if permissions were set to "guild"
The Curse spell should no longer sometimes last past its intended duration
When a monster casts Curse on players the icon should now show in the buff icon tool bar
Fixed bugs where Paroxymus's swamp dragon can despawn if it is killed

• Fixes the 2 rare mounts obtained from peerless mobs.
  
• Will no longer be marked as a summoned pet.
  
• Will no longer be deleted by other monsters special moves.
  

Fixed a bug where some "Sacks of Flour" could not be used as a cooking ingredient
Players guarded by pets that are attacked via the Paralyze spell in a guard zone will no longer get guardwhacked
Flattened the ground to remove pit in Moonglow, on tram/fel.
Players who transfer to a shard from another will no longer start in Magincia.
Fixed a bug with the weight of stacks of bola balls being incorrect
Small stacks of ore should no longer get stuck in "This object is in use" mode
Runic fishing poles made with Oak will not return values of 0 any longer
Commas can now be seen in checks (instead of 1000000, you will see 1,000,000)

Posted to uoherald.com:

Test Center Has Been Updated
Jeremy Dalberg
28 Apr 2008 16:32:20

TC1 has been updated with the following:

Factions

In order to promote accessibility and invigorate Factions, we’ve made several changes and fixed some bugs. Additionally, Factions will play an important role in the Warriors of Destiny plot arc.

• Faction size limit and load balancer removed: individual factions can grow to any size. Previously capped at 200.
  
• Multiple characters from the same account may join the same faction
  
• An account cannot have characters in different factions on the same shard
  
• Removed 30 day character age requirement
  
• “Young” players cannot join factions
  
• “Young” players will be removed from guilds that join factions
  
• One vote in faction elections per account
  
• Only one character per account may run in the elections
  
• Quit time reduced from 7 days to 3 days
  

 

Spring Cleaning 2008

Ah, how time flies. Spring has come once again to Britannia, but the sweet smell of blossoming flowers outside our homes can’t belie the memories of battles fought long so very long ago. Or is that the chest overflowing with Ophidian weapons in the corner? Or maybe it’s the bag of cursed artifacts hidden upstairs?

 

Time to cleanup, Britannia!

 

·        Publish 52 institutes the first round of Spring Cleaning collections and rewards

·        Four NPCs around the world collect items in exchange for tickets

·        The tickets can be redeemed for rewards in a new community collection

·        Rewards:

-        Shirts

·        Comes with one phrase of choice

·        Blessed

·        Dyable

-        Nocturne Earrings

·        Grayish silver

·        Night Sight

-        RBG Sashes

·        “Royal Britannia Guard”

·        One color per Virtue/Town

·        Blessed

-        Scroll of Alacrity

·        Increase skill gain for 15 minutes in the scroll’s skill

·        Skill is randomly set once redeemed from the collection

-        Sherry the Mouse Statue

·        Larger than life statue of Sherry, in marble

·        Will be hooked into the Town Crier system in Publish 53

-        Snake Skin Boots

·        Random snake skin hue

·        +2% Poison Resist

-        Knight’s Armor

·        White

·        Each piece has 7% resists, +1 HP

·        Total: 42% resists, +6HP as a set of 6 items

·        Turn-Ins

-        Makiko the Samurai

·        Turnins:

-        Ophidian Journals

-        Ophidian Orders

·        Zento, Rokuon Cultural Center, 1st Floor

-        Lozat the Numismatist

·        Turnins:

-        Copper Shilling

-        Silver Crown

-        Gold Sovereign

·        Britain (Trammel), East Britain Bank

-        Calaid the Soldier

·        Turnins:

-        Ophidian Rations

-        Slippery Snake Skins

·        Britain (Trammel), North guard tower at Castle Britannia entrance

·        Siege: Guard tower southwest of West Britain Bank

-        Onoe the Soldier

·        Turnins:

 

 -        Cursed Artifacts

-        Magincia Rubble

-        Planesword

-        Planeshield

-        Staff of Pyros

-        Vorpal Blade

-        Magical Weapons (Power, Vanquishing, Mystic)

-        Ophidian Weapons (Power, Vanquishing, Mystic)

-        Berserker’s Scythe

-        Ophidian Berserker’s Bardiche

-        Invalis’s Burchete

·        Britain (Trammel), South guard tower at Castle Britannia entrance

·        Siege: Guard tower southwest of West Britain Bank

 

 

·        Community collection box

-        Located with Onoe the Soldier

 

 

Bug Fixes:

 

Fixed a bug where players that use the Basket of Herbs could lose 20 points of cooking when the effect wears off instead of 10 points of cooking.
Explosion potion should no longer go off and reveal the player if the player is in no play mode (character transfer).
Pet release gump should now closed the moment a player is in no play mode during a character transfer.
Players should no longer be able to stable pets while a pet trade gump is open.
Spellweaving: Essence of Wind. Casting Speed and SSI debuff potency have been flip flopped
Fixed an issue with Ronin not being able to access secures in their own houses if permissions were set to "guild"
The Curse spell should no longer sometimes last past its intended duration
When a monster casts Curse on players the icon should now show in the buff icon tool bar
Fixed bugs where Paroxymus's swamp dragon can despawn if it is killed

• Fixes the 2 rare mounts obtained from peerless mobs.
  
• Will no longer be marked as a summoned pet.
  
• Will no longer be deleted by other monsters special moves.
  

Fixed a bug where some "Sacks of Flour" could not be used as a cooking ingredient
Players guarded by pets that are attacked via the Paralyze spell in a guard zone will no longer get guardwhacked
Flattened the ground to remove pit in Moonglow, on tram/fel.
Players who transfer to a shard from another will no longer start in Magincia.
Fixed a bug with the weight of stacks of bola balls being incorrect
Small stacks of ore should no longer get stuck in "This object is in use" mode
Runic fishing poles made with Oak will not return values of 0 any longer
Commas can now be seen in checks (instead of 1000000, you will see 1,000,000)

Posted to uoherald.com:

2D Client vers. 6.0.7.0
Jeremy Dalberg
28 Apr 2008 10:55:44

At 10:00AM EST, the 2D client will be updated to version 6.0.7.0.

Ghosts should now be able to use dungeon stairs

Work crews have filled in the pit in the ground in Moonglow

Fixed some text wrapping issues in Japanese

Added new music

Posted to uoherald.com:

KR Client vers. 2.52.0.3
Jeremy Dalberg
28 Apr 2008 10:56:00

At 10:00EST, the KR client will be updated to version 2.52.0.3

Ghosts should now be able to use dungeon stairs

Work crews have filled in the pit in the ground in Moonglow

Fixed some text wrapping issues in Japanese

Added new music

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

FATE Auction

Date:  Wednesday, April 30

Time:  6:45 CST

Location:  Road West of Umbra by Orc Fort

Contact:  Dosa Ravengard - ICQ 302871673

YGV Auction

Date:  Thursday, May 1

Time:  7:00 p.m. CST

Location:  Northwest of Yew Moongate

Lava,

Sorry about the late notice, but we wanted to let you know that we will be open for games on Monday April 28th. This Monday's game is Let's Make a Deal.
Gaters will be Bailey and Nameless Mule, look for them at West
Brit and Luna banks. Our hostess will be Demi with Walter handing out checks for mini deals.

I will be the MC. We are all, but Walter, new at our jobs but
we are hoping to give you a fun and entertaining evening. We will also be interested in ideas of what our patrons like and would like to see us continue, or suggestions for new ideas of things they would like to see us try.

Come and join us. We'll be waiting for you.

Great William

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ .



William,

I am so glad to hear Monday Night Madness is carrying on without a sabbatical. Often it is highly entertaining when people take on new jobs. See you there!

Fondly, Lady Lava

OBIT ~ PART TWO

With Moonglow being the hot spot these days most of the screenshots coming my way are from that locale. I give you part two of this weeks column.


Kwahari Olliquit


Medusa


Moon


NameTorque


Nancy Ann Cianci


NightStriker








Sir Wastedruin




Tanuras


Toni T




Wind of Hope

I spent the entire day yesterday at The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens located in San Marino California. For those that have never been it is a true gem and worth a visit for sure.

Housed in the library are some of the rarest books from the Canterbury Tales, the Gutenberg Bible and a large original Audubon's Birds of America. An amazing collection of Shakespeare's early edition works and Medieval books/tales brings one back to the realm we all live in as it is from that period in time.

The above and below photographs I took are of a statue that is displayed on the North Vista lawn. Needless to say I was reminded once again of the realm with the elvish-like ears.
To learn more about The Huntington go to www.huntington.org



Now onto this weeks Obituary Column. After months of no appearance I am proud to start this weeks column with the Obit Centerfold Princess Amara. Welcome back girl !


Princess Amara, Boni Hama and Thanatos


Aridas of FCB




Big Shooter




Chug








Gunther Dunson....Am I seeing double death? ... I think so :)


Hawthorne








Kelsey

Posted to uoherald.com's Five on Friday:

FoF: Publish 52 Is Coming!
Jeremy Dalberg
25 Apr 2008 19:15:38

Further details on the upcoming publish, including why I sometimes cut patch notes out of the list.

"How do the turn-ins actually work?"

It's a point system. Each item that can be turned in is worth a certain number of points, and you can then spend those points to get the reward items. And, speaking of the reward items...

Shirts
Nocturne Earrings
Royal Britannian Guard Sashes
Sherry the Mouse Statue
Snakeskin Boots
Knight's Armor

--

"I noticed that "Threads of Fate/Life" and "Cloaks of Corruption" weren't on the list of turn-ins. I wonder if that was an oversight, or do they have an as yet unrevealed purpose?"

Draconi has confirmed that the Threads and the Cloaks will have a future use unrelated to the turn-in system - so hang on to them!

--

"So... what does the Cloak of Corruption do, anyway?"

Current abilities of the Cloak of Corruption:

• Attempts to aggro a large area around the player
  • Doesn’t work in towns/guard zones
  • Cannot aggro players, pets, summons, or benign creatures
  • Cannot aggro anything that is currently in battle
  • Increases speed of aggro’d mob for several minutes
  • Boosts Fame obtained from aggro’d mobs
  • Can draw attacks up to 30 tiles away
• Rapidly decays Karma
  • -500 karma every 30 seconds equipped
• Rapidly decays HP, Mana, Stamina in the normal world
• Rapidly restores HP, Mana, Stamina in the Ethereal Void

--

"Punctuation is cool and all, but where are all the exploit fixes?"

Exploit fixes are a tricky thing to talk about - it's terribly demoralizing for players when a well-known exploit seems to go ignored, and we'd love to be able to reassure you that it's getting fixed. However, we don't want to spread knowledge of a given exploit before the fix goes live, so we end up having to make vague statements ("We're fixing house placement exploits!") without giving any real detail. That's the situation we're in with publish 52 - when I was putting together that preview list, I cut out at least half a dozen exploit fixes, not including the house placement exploit stuff. Sometimes, we just want to be able to savor the image of all the exploiters suddenly discovering their favorite tricks don't work...

--

"Is the event going to advance at all before this publish?"

No, and the unavoidable delay occasioned quite a bit of salty language around the office, because we're really excited about the next phase and want to get it out to you as soon as possible. It's too big to get out without the full publish process, though. Sharpen your swords, send your loved ones to safety, and prepare yourselves...

--

Playguide Updates:

Caught up with Publish 51 in time for Publish 52:

Animal Taming - updated with the Publish 51 command changes.
Vendors - updated with the change to insured items no longer allowed on player vendors.

--

What's To Come:

So the whole "ready for its debut" bit from last week turned out to be a wee bit premature, as Murphy's Law apparently decided to exercise veto power. Look for a client patch and Test Center publish early next week!

--

Town Hall News:

Two weeks left til the Rockville Town Hall - if you haven't RSVP'd, please do so!

--

Happy Friday!

- Jeremy

It has been months and months since I last attended an MOA auction. They run Wednesday and Thursday evenings.
For many years the MOA auctions were never missed by me. I was there both nights every week without fail. Things change , life changes but MOA always holds a special place in my heart and I still attend MOA Monday Night Madness game nights at Ice Castle as often as possible. On the subject of Monday Night Madness I am happy to report I was told that game night will return in the near future. * jumps up and down *

Upon arriving at the auction house on wednesday I approached the ever so sexy Melian to see if she had any checks for me and indeed the raving beauty did. She was free of her MOA granny gown and feeling very sexy indeed, looking it also.



To my surprise MOA main stay classic Ethereal was marking her return to the auction house. I had no idea she took a leave. She was always there and the foundation of the place burned in my memory. I was happy to see her.






Ethereal,Melian and DJ Scorp were welcoming faces indeed. Most of the patrons were strangers to me. I received no warm welcome which seemed odd as MOA was my stomping ground for so many years. Out of sight out of mind I guess ..... the world is always changing.

It was a very busy night at the auction house with Dracklure, Betty Boop, Travesty, Drinyll, Tyrael Kreegan, Lady JuJu, Huma, Ermac Firebrand, Lady Liesha, Brooke, Tiggermeat, Davey, Drugist, Lewis, kevin, Lord Big Bear, Lisa Valorite, Lady Creation, Night Star, Evista, SLASH, Monster Energy, Tia, Sven, Gargomel, Pyro, Ruric, Ghost, Hannah, Falconess, Chaotic Barbie, Joe Dirt, Symbolia, KK Star, Ramalad The Dark, Big Bertha, Elah, Bailey Bugs and Cold Fire were some of the patrons along with MOA staff Praxiska, Aubrey and Sid.

I did some bidding myself and won several items as the highest bidder. As always good items were on the auction block.



It seems that MOA will be presenting some new events in the near future. DJ informed the crowd Pratt is behind some upcoming things and that mongbats may be involved. We always look forward to anything MOA hosts!

Posted to uoherald.com:

Upcoming Patch Info
Jeremy Dalberg
24 Apr 2008 14:51:30

The next publish won't go out to Test Center until early next week, but we wanted to give you some goodies to drool over! 

Factions

In order to promote accessibility and invigorate Factions, we’ve made several changes and fixed some bugs. Additionally, Factions will play an important role in the Warriors of Destiny plot arc.

• Faction size limit and load balancer removed: individual factions can grow to any size. Previously capped at 200.
  
• Multiple characters from the same account may join the same faction
  
• An account cannot have characters in different factions on the same shard
  
• Removed 30 day character age requirement
  
• “Young” players cannot join factions
  
• “Young” players will be removed from guilds that join factions
  
• One vote in faction elections per account
  
• Only one character per account may run in the elections
  
• Quit time reduced from 7 days to 3 days
  
• Resolved issues with ghosts using stairs

 

Spring Cleaning 2008

Ah, how time flies. Spring has come once again to Britannia, but the sweet smell of blossoming flowers outside our homes can’t belie the memories of battles fought long so very long ago. Or is that the chest overflowing with Ophidian weapons in the corner? Or maybe it’s the bag of cursed artifacts hidden upstairs?

 

Time to cleanup, Britannia!

 

·        Publish 52 institutes the first round of Spring Cleaning collections and rewards

·        Four NPCs around the world collect items in exchange for tickets

·        The tickets can be redeemed for rewards in a new community collection

·        Rewards:

-        Shirts

·        Comes with one phrase of choice

·        Blessed

·        Dyable

-        Nocturne Earrings

·        Grayish silver

·        Night Sight

-        RBG Sashes

·        “Royal Britannia Guard”

·        One color per Virtue/Town

·        Blessed

-        Scroll of Alacrity

·        Increase skill gain for 15 minutes in the scroll’s skill

·        Skill is randomly set once redeemed from the collection

-        Sherry the Mouse Statue

·        Larger than life statue of Sherry, in marble

·        Will be hooked into the Town Crier system in Publish 53

-        Snake Skin Boots

·        Random snake skin hue

·        +2% Poison Resist

-        Knight’s Armor

·        White

·        Each piece has 7% resists, +1 HP

·        Total: 42% resists, +6HP as a set of 6 items

·        Turn-Ins

-        Makiko the Samurai

·        Turnins:

-        Ophidian Journals

-        Ophidian Orders

·        Zento, Rokuon Cultural Center, 1st Floor

-        Lozat the Numismatist

·        Turnins:

-        Copper Shilling

-        Silver Crown

-        Gold Sovereign

·        Britain (Trammel), East Britain Bank

-        Calaid the Soldier

·        Turnins:

-        Ophidian Rations

-        Slippery Snake Skins

·        Britain (Trammel), North guard tower at Castle Britannia entrance

·        Siege: Guard tower southwest of West Britain Bank

-        Onoe the Soldier

·        Turnins:

 

 -        Cursed Artifacts

-        Magincia Rubble

-        Planesword

-        Planeshield

-        Staff of Pyros

-        Vorpal Blade

-        Magical Weapons (Power, Vanquishing, Mystic)

-        Ophidian Weapons (Power, Vanquishing, Mystic)

-        Berserker’s Scythe

-        Ophidian Berserker’s Bardiche

-        Invalis’s Burchete

·        Britain (Trammel), South guard tower at Castle Britannia entrance

·        Siege: Guard tower southwest of West Britain Bank

 

 

·        Community collection box

-        Located with Onoe the Soldier

New Music

Adding four new compositions to UO!

Bug Fixes:

Fixed a bug where players that use the Basket of Herbs could lose 20 points of cooking when the effect wears off instead of 10 points of cooking.
Explosion potion should no longer go off and reveal the player if the player is in no play mode (character transfer).
Pet release gump should now closed the moment a player is in no play mode during a character transfer.
Players should no longer be able to stable pets while a pet trade gump is open.
Spellweaving: Essence of Wind. Casting Speed and SSI debuff potency have been flip flopped
Fixed an issue with Ronin not being able to access secures in their own houses if permissions were set to "guild"
The Curse spell should no longer sometimes last past its intended duration
When a monster casts Curse on players the icon should now show in the buff icon tool bar
Fixed bugs where Paroxymus's swamp dragon can despawn if it is killed

• Fixes the 2 rare mounts obtained from peerless mobs.
  
• Will no longer be marked as a summoned pet.
  
• Will no longer be deleted by other monsters special moves.
  

Fixed a bug where some "Sacks of Flour" could not be used as a cooking ingredient
Players guarded by pets that are attacked via the Paralyze spell in a guard zone will no longer get guardwhacked
Flattened the ground to remove pit in Moonglow, on tram/fel.
Players who transfer to a shard from another will no longer start in Magincia.
Fixed a bug with the weight of stacks of bola balls being incorrect
Small stacks of ore should no longer get stuck in "This object is in use" mode
Runic fishing poles made with Oak will not return values of 0 any longer
Commas can now be seen in checks (instead of 1000000, you will see 1,000,000)

 

 

 

 

Posted to uoherald.com:

Upcoming Patch Info
Jeremy Dalberg
24 Apr 2008 14:51:30

The next publish won't go out to Test Center until early next week, but we wanted to give you some goodies to drool over! 

Factions

In order to promote accessibility and invigorate Factions, we’ve made several changes and fixed some bugs. Additionally, Factions will play an important role in the Warriors of Destiny plot arc.

• Faction size limit and load balancer removed: individual factions can grow to any size. Previously capped at 200.
  
• Multiple characters from the same account may join the same faction
  
• An account cannot have characters in different factions on the same shard
  
• Removed 30 day character age requirement
  
• “Young” players cannot join factions
  
• “Young” players will be removed from guilds that join factions
  
• One vote in faction elections per account
  
• Only one character per account may run in the elections
  
• Quit time reduced from 7 days to 3 days
  
• Resolved issues with ghosts using stairs

 

Spring Cleaning 2008

Ah, how time flies. Spring has come once again to Britannia, but the sweet smell of blossoming flowers outside our homes can’t belie the memories of battles fought long so very long ago. Or is that the chest overflowing with Ophidian weapons in the corner? Or maybe it’s the bag of cursed artifacts hidden upstairs?

 

Time to cleanup, Britannia!

 

·        Publish 52 institutes the first round of Spring Cleaning collections and rewards

·        Four NPCs around the world collect items in exchange for tickets

·        The tickets can be redeemed for rewards in a new community collection

·        Rewards:

-        Shirts

·        Comes with one phrase of choice

·        Blessed

·        Dyable

-        Nocturne Earrings

·        Grayish silver

·        Night Sight

-        RBG Sashes

·        “Royal Britannia Guard”

·        One color per Virtue/Town

·        Blessed

-        Scroll of Alacrity

·        Increase skill gain for 15 minutes in the scroll’s skill

·        Skill is randomly set once redeemed from the collection

-        Sherry the Mouse Statue

·        Larger than life statue of Sherry, in marble

·        Will be hooked into the Town Crier system in Publish 53

-        Snake Skin Boots

·        Random snake skin hue

·        +2% Poison Resist

-        Knight’s Armor

·        White

·        Each piece has 7% resists, +1 HP

·        Total: 42% resists, +6HP as a set of 6 items

·        Turn-Ins

-        Makiko the Samurai

·        Turnins:

-        Ophidian Journals

-        Ophidian Orders

·        Zento, Rokuon Cultural Center, 1st Floor

-        Lozat the Numismatist

·        Turnins:

-        Copper Shilling

-        Silver Crown

-        Gold Sovereign

·        Britain (Trammel), East Britain Bank

-        Calaid the Soldier

·        Turnins:

-        Ophidian Rations

-        Slippery Snake Skins

·        Britain (Trammel), North guard tower at Castle Britannia entrance

·        Siege: Guard tower southwest of West Britain Bank

-        Onoe the Soldier

·        Turnins:

 

 -        Cursed Artifacts

-        Magincia Rubble

-        Planesword

-        Planeshield

-        Staff of Pyros

-        Vorpal Blade

-        Magical Weapons (Power, Vanquishing, Mystic)

-        Ophidian Weapons (Power, Vanquishing, Mystic)

-        Berserker’s Scythe

-        Ophidian Berserker’s Bardiche

-        Invalis’s Burchete

·        Britain (Trammel), South guard tower at Castle Britannia entrance

·        Siege: Guard tower southwest of West Britain Bank

 

 

·        Community collection box

-        Located with Onoe the Soldier

New Music

Adding four new compositions to UO!

Bug Fixes:

Fixed a bug where players that use the Basket of Herbs could lose 20 points of cooking when the effect wears off instead of 10 points of cooking.
Explosion potion should no longer go off and reveal the player if the player is in no play mode (character transfer).
Pet release gump should now closed the moment a player is in no play mode during a character transfer.
Players should no longer be able to stable pets while a pet trade gump is open.
Spellweaving: Essence of Wind. Casting Speed and SSI debuff potency have been flip flopped
Fixed an issue with Ronin not being able to access secures in their own houses if permissions were set to "guild"
The Curse spell should no longer sometimes last past its intended duration
When a monster casts Curse on players the icon should now show in the buff icon tool bar
Fixed bugs where Paroxymus's swamp dragon can despawn if it is killed

• Fixes the 2 rare mounts obtained from peerless mobs.
  
• Will no longer be marked as a summoned pet.
  
• Will no longer be deleted by other monsters special moves.
  

Fixed a bug where some "Sacks of Flour" could not be used as a cooking ingredient
Players guarded by pets that are attacked via the Paralyze spell in a guard zone will no longer get guardwhacked
Flattened the ground to remove pit in Moonglow, on tram/fel.
Players who transfer to a shard from another will no longer start in Magincia.
Fixed a bug with the weight of stacks of bola balls being incorrect
Small stacks of ore should no longer get stuck in "This object is in use" mode
Runic fishing poles made with Oak will not return values of 0 any longer
Commas can now be seen in checks (instead of 1000000, you will see 1,000,000)

 

 

 

 

On Tuesday evening the second Trade Caravan took place. Once again many defenders showed up to protect the caravan in this dangerous trip that would take us from Britain to Trinsic. Thanks to all the vaillant warriors who did fight on our side!

And now the full story!

The gates started 20 minutes before the caravan depart and the Britain bridge wasn't very full. I started to fear that the road brigands would outnumber us by far!

But soon enough more and more people joined us and I regained confidence.

Once again we had a "special treatment" from our local beggars. My ears still hurt!

Before the time of depart comes many people were assembled on the Britain bridge! It looked like the travel would be safer than expected!

Before the depart, I made a little speech to brief the people and introduce the two other caravan leaders. People were instructed to follow the closest caravan leader they had.

More people kept arriving as I was finishing the short briefing and we were ready to start marching!

We started to march in relative order on the road down to Trinsic.

We were reaching the limits of the town of Britain and I thought to myself... "way too quiet!"

It didn't lasted long for the first brigands to be spotted!

And the first squirmishes started... right outside Britain's borders! It was going to be a long evening!

Many squirmishes later we finally reached the Trinsic road bridge!

As we expected, the brigands were camping it and we had to battle and cast our way through the fields and arrows!

We tried to clear the surroundings of the bridge to allow the Caravan to pass through it and continue on it's road to Trinsic!

That's where things turned to the worse... in the heat of the battle, the defenders started to chase the brigands who ran on the road down to Trinsic where more of them were waiting.

But... in the same move, they let the caravan defenseless... and I found myself with a handful of defenders and a pack load of attackers! It didn't took long before the world was alternating between colors and greys...

I was running back and forth trying to gather what was left of the Caravan to make our way through the enemies but it was useless. I then decided to run to Trinsic and raise a rescue mission with the people there.

I finally came across the main body of the Caravan near the Trinsic entrance.

Fortunately, the rest of the Caravan leaders could gather the survivors and promptly headed south to rejoin the main group. But on the road to Trinsic entrance the brigands attacked us again!

The battle raged on on the very door of the Paladin's town!

We repelled the attackers but soon enough they did fight back and we were pushed to the doors of the town in defense!

We finally entered the town of Trinsic with the brigands chasing us to the Bridge!

When the minds and the hearts calmed down, we finally regrouped to heal our wounds and see how things turned out.

The result wasn't too brilliant, most of the sword holders got killed and looted of their precious belongings. So we couldn't save but 2 swords from the 8 that departed Britain.

Let's just hope we'll do better next time and that we'll be able to keep the Caravan grouped for a better ending! And possibly less casualities!

Finally we thanked everyone and took our way home to rest from this evening of battle and glory (well... and death!).

Once again, thanks to everyone who attended and made this event and enjoyable one! Thanks and congratulations to the Reds who were highly outnumbered but still succeeded in stealing most of the swords!

Thanks to all those who showed the good spirit we europa players are so proud about! You all make those events an enjoyable time!

A personal thanks to Tyreus (one of the Reds) for rezzing me

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

Thanks to Paidric this time round for the report and the screenshots it contains. I spent most of the event dead and on my own so my report wouldn’t have contained very much.

I’m setting a little community minded challenge for the next caravan. I think it will be fun to involve people even further in this.
What I want is for a member of the community to write the next report. To be posted here on Stratics as the official news report with thanks to the writer being given. All you need to do is before the next event send me via pm or to the Europa email address a short report on one of the caravans that have already taken place.
The only other thing I ask is that whoever gets picked to write the official report that you send it to me as soon as possible after the event has finished so that it can be posted as quickly as possible.

Marooned - Island Survival Contest

On April 26th 2008, at 7 pm EST (12 pm UK time, 1 am Central European time), the United Pirates are organizing a new interesting event! The participants will be marooned on a small island where they can prove their survival skills and win a great prize! Have a starting fee of 10,000 gold pieces ready! The winner takes it all! All participants must have highlighting with each other. This should be taken care of before the event.
(Note: Should this collide with a special Moonglow event, we may postpone the Survival Contest.)

THE RULES:

Step 1 - Empty pockets!
Arrive at the Jolly Roger Inn (the headquarters of the United Pirates, map see below) in Trammel with nothing on you, nothing in your backpack. No runebooks, no spellbooks, no books of bushido, chivalry, necromancy or spellweaving. Absolutely no armor, jewels and equipment whatsoever. Don't even try to sneak in any stuff that would give you an unfair advantage over the other participants.

Step 2 - Preparation
Each participant will recieve a bag containing a rune to an unknown location, a recall scroll and a key to your personal treasure chest. These should be the ONLY items in your backpack. The key should be insured, and auto insurance should be switched on. Everyone joins into the party of the game leader, to be able to communicate with him. When everyone's ready, all participants will recall simultaneously to their personal rune.

Step 3 - Where am I?
All contestants will find themselves on the same small island, but each one on a different spot. You'll be standing next to your personal treasure chest waiting to be unlocked with the key in your backpack. It will contain a level 5 treasure chest (already picked and untrapped; gold and map removed), a number of useful items and one special item.

Step 4 - Let the battle begin!
The object is to find other players and loot their special item. The player who first has all the special items at the same time, wins.

Rules and Hints
> Equip yourself from your treasure chest. As they have been left in their original state (only gold and map removed), its contents are completely random.
> You loot your opponents to get their special item, and to improve your own equipment. Anything can be taken except the key (which should be insured anyway).
> Insuring items (except for the treasure key) is not allowed! (Illegally insured items could easily be detected, cause if being killed, the winner will receive a part of the insurance fee as a reward.)
> It is a good idea to keep your personal treasure chest locked.
> The treasure chests will also contain logs to make them heavy, so they cannot be carried away.
> You are allowed to get resurrected as often as you like. But keep in mind that each time you are killed, you will lose items.

The Winner
If someone has looted the special items off all other players, he has to page the game master through party chat immediately. The fighters have to cease their activities immediately - the game is over! A gate service will be provided to rescue all participants from the island.

The Swaggers Inn, presents:

When: Wednesday 23. April
Where: The Swaggers Inn. Vesper just over the south bridge. (53o 5'N 103o 21'E)
At: 9pm(Uk-time)

- The Management would like to invite Friends and Strangers to come and play some board games.
All you have to do is to show up and ask someone to play one of the following games.
(Should you be terribly shy the Staff will find someone for you to gamble with)

All boards/darts/dices will be provided.

* Chess.
* Checker's.
* Backgammon.
* Darts.
* Cup and Dices.

Polite lil' note on Cup & Dices:
You are allowed to play for doubloons - However brawls might occour and there for playing for coins, is on your own risk.

The Winner of the played game, will win a drink after his/her own choice and all the rights to brag about it.
The Loser... Well better luck, next time or in next game!

*********
The Staff at the Swaggers Inn
is looking forward to see you

Thanks to Rebecca of VTC for permission to post this and full credit to her for the writing of it too

t was an amazing spawn full of new creatures to battle at the fourth tier like the treefellows and raging grizzly bears, with corpses fertilizing the ground and pet bodies piled up like fodder.

OBIT COLUMN ~ 4 / 20 / 08

For several years now I have been doing a weekly Obituary Column on Great Lakes.
This column consists of screenshots sent in by people of the dead and dieing.

Since the start of the current Moonglow Scenario I have been spending a lot of time on Catskills with my very weak Lady Lava character here. At this time I would like to thank all that have ressed me over and over and over again.

I have been taking screenshots while dieing in Moonglow and today I present you with a special Catskills Moonglow Edition of the Obituary Column. Enjoy!




DogLeg






Kapanen






Valthonis Majere






UNDERTAKER


Bones of Lady Lava




Lady Lava bites the dust again


Sweety


Dr Death


Mag


Babbling old hag laughs as she witnesses the dead and dieing in Moonglow

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

FATE Auction

Date:  Wednesday, April 23

Time:  6:45 CST

Location:  Road West of Umbra by Orc Fort

Contact:  Dosa Ravengard - ICQ 302871673

YGV Auction

Date:  Thursday, April 24

Time:  7:00 p.m. CST

Location:  Northwest of Yew Moongate

Focus on Factions: Alexia of Origin                              

Welcome to our next Focus on Factions article. Since I began playing factions about a year ago, I have met some fascinating people. Without doubt some of the most intriguing are the women who choose to participate in this aspect of UO. I hope these articles will enlighten and encourage other UO players to try factions.

What is your UO name?

Alexia

How long have you played UO?

5 years and counting

What do you consider your home shard?

Origin

What keeps you playing UO?

Friends, the unending array of things to do, there is no monotony in UO

What do you think of the new templates, soul stones, insurance, etc.?

Interesting..it keeps things fresh. Insurance.....iffy on that one...I like the SP idea of blessing one item....the game to me has become more of what you have then how skilled you are..sure it's just pressing keys on a keyboard but...if you don't have an *ubar* suit you really need to think about what you're doing. Soulstones....I like...you don't have to be the same person from day to day. I personally don't use them all that often but it's a nice thing to have.

Have they helped or hurt?

It depends on your point of view I guess....personally I wasn't around before soulstones and insurance so I can't really say either way. If I had to play without, I wouldn't mind.

What is your favorite type of character?

Archer...I have a straight archer and a Bushido Archer, both very fun templates.

How did you start playing Factions?

I stumbled across the faction stone in Mag one day..3 years ago? I read up on factions and it sounded very intriguing. I have had one major faction battle in my 5 years of playing and it was a blast. Factions aren't what they used to be, that's for sure, so now I just run sigils by myself and have fun with my opposing faction mates.

What faction do you belong to and why?

True Brit because I wanted to be close to the Great City, I really had no clue what factions were when I started and I figured TB was a good one. After I joined I started doing my homework! *laughs*

What do you think caused factions to “slow down”?

Lack of interest, wasn't fun anymore, no point to it...alot of people join factions for the cheap reg vendors....the *true* meaning of factions got lost in translation and it needs to be revived.

What do you think we can do to revive factions on your shard?

Wow.....first we need more people in general on my shard*grins* then a HUGE campaign promoting factions and why people should play them. I think alot of people really just have no idea, like I did, and if we inform the people, maybe more would join.

What would you change or add to factions? (and why?)

Hmm...tough question. The skeleton of the faction system is awesome. I'm sure it was great fun when it was introduced....stealing sigils, getting back to base and waiting. Faction battles used to be spectacular, now if you see one you're lucky. I'm really not sure WHAT I would add..but something to spice it up..something different. Maybe have a special monster spawn in the captured sigils town base or something...enemy guards surrounding the sigil you want to steal....an alert that's sent to all opposing faction members online *Alert, Alert* just make things more interesting and maybe *force* a battle just to get people into it again.

Do you see a difference in play style between men and woman?

Most definitely. *Most* not all, men, are harder...fiercer. blood-thirstier (If that's a word)

Have you seen any notable strength a woman player brings to factions or UO?

Women players have always brought a certain strength I think. I know from personal experience that alot of people are surprised that I do more then crafting and growing plants *grins* That's not to say ALL women are passive players, but as a rule women are more gentle and caring, nurturing mothers and to get down and dirty and shed some blood is something alot of women just don't do, so people are surprised when they come up against a female in a game, my opinion anyway.

What is your favorite part of factions? Ie, stealing, defending, etc?

Stealing is by far my favorite part, it's why I think it needs to be more interesting. The way it is now, at least on my home shard, there's nothing challenging about it, stealth in, steal. stealth out.....*yawns* The more people in a faction, the more people that KNOW a sigil has just been stolen, like the aforementioned alert system, would make it MUCH more exciting and more challenging.

Thank you for joining us for the first interview of a "woman in factions". I hope to be posting interviews/articles more regularly now that my new job has settled down a bit. If you are a faction player, male or female, and would like to be interviewed for this ongoing series, please email me at [email protected]. I am especially curious about your finest and not so finest moments in factions ... like the time I accidently bumped my heal button while stealthing out between a mass of guards....and it fizzled as they all hit me at once. It was a lovely monotone run to the healers....

Watchertoo

Posted to uoherald.com's Five on Friday:

FoF: Looking Forward
Jeremy Dalberg
18 Apr 2008 18:34:23

This week I get the immense satisfaction of answering a couple of very old questions, plus check out some new Town Hall dates and an awesome player-run event!

"What does the "You have too many pets guarding you" message mean, and how do I fix it?"

Each character is only allowed to have 6 pets guarding it - this has always been true, but the latest publish introduced a message that actually tells you when you try to exceed that limit, instead of just failing to set the pet to "guard" mode. Pets set to "guard" that are stabled still count towards this limit, so if you receive this message, the way to resolve it is to pull your pets out of the stable and tell them to "stop," which will take them out of guard mode and let you select a new guard dog, or cat, or pony, or... whatever.

"When are you going to do something about all the trial accounts that monopolize the good housing spots?"

This is an extremely common complaint, and a valid one. The fix is not trivial, but we think it's worth it - as of the next publish, characters that are less than 15 days old will not be able to place or trade houses. This means that 14-day trial accounts will not be able to place or trade houses (as there's no way for the character to be older than the account,) and it should level the playing field a bit for our paying customers.

"Why did my Paroxymus Swamp Dragon disappear?"

This is another one that we've been getting bug reports on, and we finally tracked down the source. While we can't replace swampies that have been lost, we are fixing the root cause of the disappearance and they should be much more reliable after the next publish.

"What ever happened to the water barrel fix?"

Some of you remember that, about 18 months ago, a fix was put up on Test Center where water barrels and field spells would no longer block house placement. While this made some people very happy, the point was raised that placing water barrels and casting field spells was the only way to prevent people using illegal third-party programs from placing a house on the spot before anyone else could attempt it, or grab any IDOC loot. We pulled the fix in preperation for a more complete package of fixes that would address the underlying problem, and, now that we've got that all lined up, the water barrel fix will be introduced at the same time.

Playguide Updates:

Just a few this week:

Compassion - removed the line about Haven escorts not raising Compassion.
Material Properties-clarified the factors involved in enhancement success chance.
Animal Taming- added the skill loss percentage when a creature is paralyzed while being tamed.
Faction-Controlled Towns- corrected various of the timers involved in capturing a town.

What's To Come:

The next publish, as hinted at above, is just about ready for its debut - look for it on TC early in the week, Origin later in the week, and, barring disaster, all shards after a nice uneventful weekend on Origin. The next publish also contains some awesome event stuff, which Origin will be the first to see later in the week, including some ways to for all you obsessive hoarders get your lockdown counts down :P

Town Hall News:

The next Town Hall is in Rockville, Maryland - if you haven't RSVP'd, please do so! (A reminder - the RSVP isn't mandatory, and you won't get a confirmation or anything, but it's extremely helpful to us when trying to figure out how much food/swag/etc to order!)

Got a couple of new confirmed dates, too - the San Diego Town Hall will be Saturday, July 26 and the Chicago Town Hall will be Saturday, October 18th - for the full scoop, visit the Town Hall Page . Can't wait!

Fansite News

This one's a bit different - a real-life player meetup hosted by Whispering Rose!

When?

Saturday, April 19, 2008 at 7:00 PM

Where?

Dave & Busters 940 Great Mall Dr. Milpitas , CA 95035 Milpitas , CA 95035 408-921-7010

(This is close to San Francisco and just North of San Jose) for directions Click Here.

Who should come?

Anyone who plays, has played or is thinking of playing Ultima Online will have a blast meeting with others with this same interest and planning in game events and out of game events.

Why?

A lot of people who play Ultima Online say they get bored. By joining the UOFC you will have the time of your online game life! Plus you will get to party in real life with your in game friends and enemies!!

How to find the organizer(s)?

"Ask the Hostess where we are meeting."

-Hal Hoge (DJ Sandman) Ultima Online/EA/Mythic

Details

Meet other local Ultima Online players to trade hints tips, set up in game events and plan trips to UO Townhall Meetings.

Whispering Rose Radio (www.WRRad.com) will be supporting the first chapter of the UOFC/CCC (Ultima Online Fan Club/Central California Chapter) and will be meeting at Dave and Busters in Milpitas at 940 Great Mall Dr. Milpitas , CA 95035 408/957-9215 the 3rd Saturday of each month unless otherwise stated due to holidays.

Come and Meet DJ Sandman/Norman Bates and in person and help others to build chapters in their part of the country to meet on the same day and build a stronger Sosarian Community. "We are not just building a community....we are building a civilization"!!!!

The 1st order of business will be to decide the events in game that the UOFC will build and sponser. We are going to focus on all North American Shards but will start with one or two shards to start off with. All ideas will be thrown into the brain stroming session and discussions will go to a blog to be announced.

The 2nd order of business will be planning the trip to San Diego in July for the UO Townhall meeting. (date to be announced by EA) to sign up for free.

for more info go to Meetup.com and enter Ultima Online , than enter 95035 for the Zip "

Please remember to include "FOF" somewhere in the subject of your email when you send me news - I got a LOT of email, and putting that in (preferably at the front) makes it much easier to find it!

Have a good weekend, everyone - and wish me luck, my cat needs a bath. *pulls on chain mail*

Jeremy

Received the following from Paidric of New Haven. Hope to see many of you there again

Hello fellow citizens,

Once again our guild will take the road on a trade caravan. This time we'll depart from Britain and head to Trinsic. We expect the trip to be rather dangerous so we look for as many guards as possible. If you don't fear some action, come and join us!

Here is the map of our planned route

Everyone is welcome to join us and help us defend our prized possessions in the dangerous trip.

The caravan will depart the coming Tuesday, enlist yourself!

We count on you!

Paidric of New Haven.

This event is intended for all players who want to experience some PvP in a fun and different way. We encourage every player to join us.
Bring your blessed armor and weapons if you fear the insurance cost! Or just buy some GM made armor/weapons.

You can find all details about the concept of the event here : http://caravan.uosites.com/

Schedule and organisation

The Caravan will depart on Tuesday 22 of April at 8PM UK Time (9PM CET - 3PM EST).
The meeting point is the Britain Bridge just south of the bank. Gates will be provided from Luna Hall from 7:40PM until 8:10PM (the caravan will be on the road already).
Eight people will be carrying items for the Caravan, those will be engraved bronze Viking Swords carried inside the main backpack of the caravanees.
The goal of the guards is to reach our destination with as much of those items as possible.
The Caravan will be led by N'athuk of [HLP] (though we expect him to die quite a few times being in front). There will be 3 other caravan leaders to help keep some structure.

We hope to see many of you.

Paidric.

Once a year I do a " Ever Changing Face of Luna " article as this popular city is well visited and a mecca of commerce on Great Lakes. The "look" of the city is something that often comes up in conversation and I am sad to report the west end is still suffering from what many refer to as the " Crystal Virus " or Crystal Plague " or even " Crystal Disease ". Though personally I am not a huge fan of the crystal tiles two of the crystal structures are done very well, then again when the talented hand of Rose Red is behind them they are going to be great.

The east end of Luna has not changed much. Tas and his patchwork and ship inspired shops are still up and doing well as is Serenity's Luna Market. Pretty much all the plot designs are the same. Well, then there is my castle inspired plot that changed after my trip to Egypt this past November and it is now an Egyptian Temple inspired design.
The plot across from mine owned by Sass was redesigned the same week mine was. These two plots are not the only change on the east end. Burning Debris and an Effigy of a Traitor in the plot right behind mine may be the biggest change in Luna this past year....the most dramatic for sure!



The SC plots on the west have slowly been making a visual change on that side of the city. The naked green haired ladies are a stand out at the SC Mall.



It is however the UO Museum owned by Of The Ring that is the true new gem of the city. This museum gives a wide and long history of our world and every person should visit this new landmark.
Not only does this museum perk up the west end and the city, but also our shard.

Below are a few screenshots of the museum. One needs to click on each and every item to get a true feel and appreciate all that this collector has collected.

As I we were informed earlier this week game night run by the MOA Monday Night Madness Crew will be silent for awhile.
Real life issues have made it impossible for Vanna and several other crew members from keeping up with the monday night event.

Last night I arrived early at the castle to find Dani, Lady Mist and Bailey Bugs chatting with Vanna. They were voicing their concerns and sadness of the game night ending. Remember folks this is only for a period of time not forever. We don't know for how long however.
With that said Bailey and others during the event stated they would miss being a patron at the games but would be willing to join and be a member of the the Madness Crew.



Along with Vanna, Demitria and Great William ran the game which was the popular Chests of Doom and Delights. For Vanna's swan song she wore an outfit in deeep purple by her favorite designer, Whipstitch.



As the people started to arrive I could not help but notice two odd and interesting character names, Private Donuts and Happy Feet. Both of these names made me chuckle.
I sat with Aphrodite and FiFi LaForge of FCB, Duece of B*R, and Lady Mother Nature of DC*.

It was a busy night with over forty patrons. Not only was it busy it was rather wild and crazy with people being removed and even one player banned, that rarely happens. A Razor Blade was really acting out and not just in one form either.



After a little drama all calmed down and the game went into full swing. The chests were filled with great items as always.
The chest with the Spooky Cake is what I was after and I had it in my hands for some time. As the game goes sadly I lost it to Lady Mist. Lady Mist then lost it to Lady Mother Nature who went home with it at the end of the evening after placing it carefully in a box. This cake toss enlisted Goran to inform we I cannot have my cake and eat it to. I tried at least, lol.



Hopefully game night won't be gone for long. Last night was a blast!
I will leave you with a few shots of Vanna dead and dieing.

Posted to uoherald.com:

Issues with Siege
Jeremy Dalberg
14 Apr 2008 11:05:21

We're seeing some issues with Siege Perilous and will be taking the shard down to look into them. We don't have an ETA yet, but will post as we get one. Thanks for your patience!

Cathat was kind enough to give us an insight into what he's doing since he left EA and the UO team.

You can find the interview, Here!

*one of the upper level floors at MOA*

Some bright news!

Wednesday April 16th, at 8 p.m. cst MOA will be hosting a first of its kind SPECIAL private seller auction. One sumbitter has supplied all the items AND the MYSTERY CHEST! (and is it loaded with stuff). Rumor has it a colorful guest auctioneer of days/years gone by will be here!

MOA would like to offer a special thanks to Stratics reporters for their help, to UO radio, also to Lord Of The Ring owner of SC vendor malls in Luna and the NEW UO museum in the Northwest corner. He has been the contributor to this auction! The Museum is a feast for the eyes many many things I've never seen come across the MOA block or Pratt's collection!

Here is a sneak peak at the complete list of what will hit the auction block!

A tailors bag, 100 yds each of white, blaze, dryad green, ice blue and I think its charcoal along with 2 bolts of spider cloth.

Pigments of Tokuno (first ones) Luna white 45 uses, Nox Green 35 uses, Shadowdancer black 27 uses, Paragon Gold 28 uses, Violet of courage purple 44 uses, Rum Red 49 uses and a 10 use bottle of bleach.

A full darkwood suit crafted of bloodwood.

Pendant of the Magi

120 taming power scroll with a taming alacrity scroll.

Set of six shields: invulnerability, order and chaos museum shields, dupres shield, Sentinels Guard and Lord Blackthorn's Exemplar

2 clothing bless deeds

The Redeemer Sword

Kasa of the Raj'in

Yew Runic fletchers tool

Scrapper's compendium recipe

Ethereal Swamp dragon

Ring of Vile

120 Magery Power Scroll

Ethereal Horse

Paragon Gold Rune Beetle Carapace

Hooded Shroud of Shadows

Bracelet and Ring set: LRC 24, FCR 5, FC 1, PR4, CR 7, Poison 7, animal lore 9

Full set of Pigments of Tokuno (first set) all containing 50 uses

Gold Robe (glowing sort and blessed)

Fire Orange dyed crimson Cincture

4 tokens: soulstone fragment, shadow items, evil furniture and personal attendant

AoS blaze/fire robe and sandals

Set of 4 reward dye tubs black, special, furniture, leather

box of 8 crystal and 10 shadow decor deeds

Random birds summoner Library talisman

Keeonean's Tunic Museum reward

A 5th year Fire vet reward robe

2 barbed runic sewing kits

full set of 5 potted plants

5 Alacrity scrolls: herding, provocation, peacemaking, animal lore, veterinary

Quiver of Infinity with 500 arrows

Magical shortbow: life leech 14, fireball 44, SSI 40, DMI 44, speed 3's

Quater Staff: life leech 45, hit harm 48, mana leech 54, SSI 10, DMI 37 and speed 2.25

+30 ASH and Golden Runic Smith hammer set

Should be some auction!!! As always there will be trivia and cash prizes!
Hope to see you all here!

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

FATE Auction

Date:  Wednesday, April 16

Time:  6:45 CST

Location:  Road West of Umbra by Orc Fort

Contact:  Dosa Ravengard - ICQ 302871673

YGV Auction

Date:  Thursday, April 17

Time:  7:00 p.m. CST

Location:  Northwest of Yew Moongate

BEC Auction

Date:  Friday, April 18

Location:  BEC Auction House - South of Luna

Contact:  Lady Tia - ICQ 23944805

Apologies for the delay in getting this posted. So much has been going on in game recently and the real world has kept me busy too.

On March 28th 2008 there was a party held to celebrate Europa achieving the unexpected and filling the zoo all the way to tier 11.

Project Zoo ran from the 14th to the 28th of March and was a huge success. Lots of people joined in the project and had lots of fun. At times it was hard and a good few times people lost all motivation that we could achieve such a thing. However members of the community kept picking everyone back up again and eventually it happened - The silver steed returned to Europa!

The achievement was extra special due to the fact the only two shards to reach the top recently were both European, showing that the community across Europe is the best there is.

The party was held in the corner next to the Silver Steeds pen, there was specially made food that was handed out as commemorative decoration for those in attendance.

Various guests turned out to see the Steed and to celebrate the occasion; here is a picture of just some of the guests that came along that night. We even had a very special guest come along on the night, Frarc from Drachenfels was the inspiration to kick start the zoo here on Europa and a few times he cheered us on in our quest. He came along especially to the party to congratulate us in person for what we had achieved.

As can be seen above the Silver steed is a little camera shy and hid in the trees while this one was taken. The evening was great fun the zoo was filled with the sounds of the various animals and lots of chatter from the guests. The conversations went on well into the evening until it was decided to leave the animals to rest in their newly refurbished zoo.

A big thank you to everyone that helped to make this happen, and a big well done to Petra for organising the party and making the lovely food that I know lots of people have proudly displayed in their houses.

This whole event was proof that when a community comes together that even near impossible things become possible, well done to the community for what you all did and lets hope we can do it again in the future.

The Blue Lotus Tournament Arena in Zento was the location of the Tourney. Though a Cherry Blossom Queen and King were crowned at the fashion contest the Tourney was the crowning jewel of the event and it lasted over three hours!

I arrived during the match between Malag aste and Lord Urich and a great match it was.









Lord Urich won this match and I was glad I took my seat on the upper level. Not only did one get a great view looking down but one also avoided getting any blood splattered on ones dress. I was wearing a new creation by Lady Mona Barrington and did not want to soil it.
For most of this event Lady FiFi LaForge of FCB sat to my left and Melian of MOA to my right.....one could not ask for any better company.

As I looked around I noticed the benches in the plot had been crafted by Homeless Boy and lanterns by Crafty Crystal. The decor only took second place to the patrons, many dressed to the nines as the three are below.



During this extremely long event many people came and went and others stayed the entire time. A few of those that visited and worked this event were, Grimm, Dark Drow, Aldrick, Tiber, Lord Cassius, Emily Evans, Micarlin Z'ress, Ariyana Sune, Timmigy, Max VonBayer, Abracadabra, Issek, Turkish, Oona, Alex Winters, Leviathan, Duncan Dunbar, Vendetta, Peter Cottontail, Lady Mist, Hanzo, vet, Trinity, Wicked Jester, Finder Of Beasts, Sammy, Key Suspect,Damon, Garrett, Katharina, Locke and Thalon VanDyke.



Bishimi did a fantastic job at introducing the warriors and entertaining the crowd. Late in the evening for some reason he also died but I am not sure how or why. He made a lovely blue corpse.



On the subject of fantastic jobs, Lord Anvil gave away an amazing amount of prizes for the UO history trivia that was peppered through out the entire event.



During these player run events often some of the most entertaining aspects is what the audience says and does. Temujin, a player seen often at MOA auctions and man about town, stated he thought Luna needed a food court. Luna has everything but a food court he stated. In real life Temujin claims he could spend an entire day in and around a food court. I love this idea of a food court in Luna.... only if we truly needed to eat.... and I wished our characters did.

Melian also informed me this wednesday at MOA all the items going on the auction block have been submitted by one person. The owner of the SC Malls in Luna has done some house cleaning and MOA will be showcasing it. An interesting concept.

During all this chatter the fights went on. On the topic of chatter a bird flew in my ear by the name of Spark, Spark of !BS! that is. He informed me there would be bloodshed outside the arena and he was correct. "Just keep ur eyes on the WTF people", he told me. Sure enough as time passed Spark could be seen outside on his purple horse in the middle of drama which ended with death on the streets of Zento!





One of my favorite fights was the match between Key Suspect and Akela.....it was in the ring with Akela as winner.

As the event wound down there were three warriors left and the call was for a Battle Royale between them.





It was down to Akela and Polynikes. These two train together often and know each others strengths and weakness. It was a long battle with Akela coming out as the big winner of the night!

Awards were handed out and congratulations to all that entered.