Posted to uoherald.com:

Veteran Rewards Are Back

Kai Schober

14 Sep 2011 12:19:10 EST

Veteran awards are now once again available for all shards.

Also, we are working on getting house decay turned on and expect it to be working within the next week.

Posted to uoherald.com:

Bug Fixes for Test Center and Origin

Kai Schober

13 Sep 2011 16:42:34 EST

Greetings,

We are updating Test Center today. You can find the list of bug fixes below:

•    Mannequin can no longer be placed outside of a home.
•    Increased the point value for the Item bless deed
•    Changed the name of the item bless deed to bless deed to preserve the rare factor of the original one.
•    The Cornucopia will now give points as it should.
•    Removed the cooking bonus from the full Fisherman’s set.
•    Fixed an exploit with placing Clean up Britannia items in the trash can.

Please note: If you put female gargoyle cloth armor onto a male gargoyle you cannot remove it via the paperdoll. You can remove it by changing the race/gender. This is a classic client bug that will be fixed in the future.

 

We plan to publish these changes on Origin tomorrow, Wednesday 09/14. We are going to be bringing down Origin at 11am EDT (3pm UTC).

Please keep an eye on the Herald for updates.

Posted to uoherald.com:

Essential Maintenance of All Shards - 09/13

Kai Schober

13 Sep 2011 12:08:08 EST

Update 2:30 pm EDT: All shards are back online.

Greetings,

We will bring down all shards for a short maintenance today at 1:30pm EDT (5:30pm UTC). We anticipate all shards to be back online no later than 2:30pm EDT (6:30pm UTC). The maintenance is to prepare the shards for the re-activation of veteran rewards.

Please note: House decay is still deactivated. We will post an update about this within the next few days.

 

Posted to uoherald.com

An Update on Veteran Rewards

Kai Schober

12 Sep 2011 18:01:20 EST

Greetings,

We want to take a moment and let you know that Veteran Rewards will be re-enabled later this week. We will post an update as soon as they are available again.

Thanks everyone!

The UO Team

These are the events of the days since my capture:
Afternoon, Day 3: Sitting in this corner for the past two days, wondering if orcs really do eat humans alive, it was a pleasant surprise when an orc named Jogug gave me the writing materials from my rucksack. I have decided to make the most of this opportunity by writing this journal. It is not that I have given up hope of being rescue, it’s just that no one knows that I need rescuing. My family do not expect me back from my travels for a full month, and no one was with me at the time of my capture. Considering the circumstances, I am proud of the fact that I have not lost my composure.

Evening, Day 3: Ugh, now I know why orcs are not known for their cuisine. My meal consisted of scraps of what was identified as Bristly Grunting Thing, followed by few grunts. Normally I enjoy a good wild boar, but this was repulsive. Yet, I am glad not to be the one in the cooking pot. Jogug even discreetly passed me some beer which was not half bad. Curious how one can enjoy moments of comfort even in the darkest hour.

Morning, Day 4: *drops of blood cover the page* Bloody orcs! Woke up with a kick to my stomach. Before I know it, they cut my arm and let my blood drip into some kind of a vial. stoped the bleeding with a bandage afterwards, bless his soul.

Afternoon, Day 4: They have setup what seems to be an alchemy lab in here. I never thought orcs were capable of such advanced science. But, the most baffling thing is that they got my blood in the vial right up there with bubbling flasks and heaps of blackrocks. What in the world is going on!?

Evening, Day 4: Jogug has been taking heat from the other orcs for fixing me up this morning. If he was not the biggest of them, I am afraid it would have been much worse. I got my first glimpse of the clan leader (warbozz) this evening. A big brute by the looks of it.

Morning, Day 5: A hooded rider on a black horse arrived. Whatever brief moment of joy I felt on seeing another human, it fled when I felt her aura. I knew I was in the presence of something sinister. All the other orcs seemed to be afraid of her, even the warbozz. The stranger walked straight to the lab, ignoring my existence. Barking some orders, that I could not make out, she brought out a vial from her robe. The contents of which she mixed to the potion that the orcish alchemist had already prepared… with my blood in it! Then turning around, she marched out and jumped on her horse to ride away. I hope that is the last I see of the hooded stranger and by the looks of it, the orcs seem to feel the same way.

Afternoon, Day 5: This afternoon brought a strange sight. More than two dozen orcs lined up in front of the warbozz. Jogug amongst them. Each one of them were given a bottle filled with the potion prepared earlier. Then, they proceeded to thump their chests in a show of bravado before marching out. Jogug seemed quite subdued. I got the feeling that he was not enthusiastic about what was happening. I certainly was not enthusiastic about seeing him leave. I am afraid that this bodes ill for my immediate future.

Night, Day 5: Woke up to a blood-curling shriek from the warbozz. It seems that he had a nightmare. I did not think that orcs could have nightmares. Feeling quite hungry, no one bothered to share any food with me last evening. How I miss Jogug. Sigh, how I miss my family and friends.

Morning, Day 6: Blooodddy hell. They cut me up again to take more blood from me. Pleading for a bandaid only got me a kick in the stomach and a finger in the direction of a giant stag. Apparently, I am to be replaced by the stag. Bloody orcs!

A band of filthy, unkept Orcs were seen prowling the streets of Luna this weekend.

Being a city outside the hegemony of Britain, the Greenskins went about their business unmolested and offered no hostility in turn ...save for their offending stench and threatening glares.

The group seems to be up to no good. Whispering amongst themselves. Pointing and glaring at various 'hummiez.' Purchasing weapons and armor.

Given recent events in Western Britain and Skara Brae, there is some concern over the presence of these raiders and what they might have planned for Malas.

* * *

Ifan Shafiri - the Prime Minister of Umbra - is missing.

The nature of his disappearance remains undetermined. But sources close to Shafiri claim the aging patriarch had been partaking in various illicit substances and chemicals in the weeks leading up to his disappearance. Perhaps in an attempt to restore his youth.

Shafiri is described as a man of average height (though tall amongst the Umbral), slight build, silver hair and dark skin. He wears green robes, often with the hood up, and possesses a ghastly scar on his nose, an injury inflicted upon him by a member of House Seiren.

A replacement for the Prime Minister is currently being sought.

* * *

Sister Frances, Tari Tiwele and Sluggy Freelance spent their evening guarding the Sea Witch Tavern this last weekend.

It appears the enigmatic A - still concerned with revenge against the Magincians - remains at large.

In response the Magincians have begun forming a militia of their own. But this has stoked fears in Britain that the Magincians is massing for a war with the recovering Kingdom.

The truth remains to be seen

My travels have taken me to yet another player run and designed museum here in the land of Great Lakes. This one is owned by Neptune and has may curious and wonderful items housed in it.



Many things do not appear as they really are as Neptune pointed out to me. It is important in this museum to click on items and read books near items to truly understand and experience their uniqueness.


Repeat these words to the wisp and get a reply

The hidden features are very entertaining and the volume of items which include a full set wall carving, void tower, a petal from the golden lotus of heaven, pirate eye patch, night camouflage face paint, a feather of peace from an ethereal being...to mention a few are a delight.

This museum is private but Neptune is more than happy to give private tours of his wonderland.





Neptune is one of those players that is around a lot and easy to run across. The cords to the museum are 57o 28'S, 32o 50'W


Flying Piglet is featured above, the one item that Lady Lava covets and still has not got gotten


Owain Surrey Dreamcatcher featured in this screenshot



Thank you Neptune for the private tour and sharing some Great Lakes history with me.

He brought back this slightly charred and blood covered journal. I would give it to you before the guards so that the people might know the truth before it is rewritten...

This is the journal of Pasaul Darkpin.

I shall write this to keep record of my story that with hope may make me famous someday so that bards will entertain kings with my stories.

Who would have ever thought gypsy's could be robbed in broad daylight?
Myself, Rosemon, and Tallin were on our way to Yew, when we came across their camp, They must have had one helluva night because we were not only able to sneak into their wagons and tents, we made off with our pockets a little heavier all the while they slumbered the day away. One of these days I really must take part in one of those parties just to see for myself.

Day 4.
We made the city of yew nothing more than a rest stop, It seems the elves were too busy with their various trades for us to ply ours. The trip was not a complete loss however, we began to hear rumors that the city of pride was no longer happy with their status and were planning to form their own government... (it looks like this overcast day may begin to brighten after all)

Day 9.
We traveled in what bards must call "a blink of an eye" for our travels to a port were filled with days of simple travel. We avoided the main roads and kept to wooded areas as best as we could. Tallin wished to avoid major towns and moongates in case any guards might recognize us.

Day 13.
If we did not have bad luck lately we would have none at all. We were unable to reach magincia due to a blockade, so our ship was forced to turn back. Not to be discouraged however we "borrowed" a rowboat and decided to try and slip by the blockade at night. Our boat however was more worn than we had noticed and only a few yards from the ship did we find ourselves quickly sinking into the black and possibly monster filled waters around the isle of pride. We were forced to abandon not only our boat, but most of our items in which we use to ply our trade.

Day 27.
I must really try hard to rewrite in detail the days my journal is now missing because of the fight Rosemon and I had the other day. He was furious that I kept updating my journal whenever I found the time and more so that I managed to keep it instead of trying to save our gear before it sank into the black waters the night we were forced to swim the remainder of the way to the magincian shore.

Day 28.
We have spent the last week in magincia trying to understand just how we might make a good profit from the recent events, We found a tavern called the "Sea Witch" that seemed like a good place to hear profitable information. We befriended a bard named Quint who seemed an overly friendly fellow at first however he bought us several rounds of a very good vintage wine and told us more than a few stories of what was going on as of late. The one that peaked our interest was of a bounty on a man known only as "A". Apparently from what we can make of it, the "A" character was bending his revenge over some wench on the whole isle of magincia and one of the locals wanted him stopped. The had even gone on to offer one million gold coins to the ones who could not only stop him but bring proof.

Day 30.
Quint and myself have decided to talk to Rosemon and Tallin to form a group with the skills to hunt down this bounty that could set us all up for life. I explained our various skills to Quint and Tallin gave us more information on the people that we could have ever found on our own. He went on to explain that our target is reputed to be a mage of some power and if possible we should try to find one of our own, The others however were not too thrilled with the idea of having to part with more of their reward money should we pull this off and I agree with them.

Day 32.
Quint has allowed us to stay at his home since what funds we had have now run their course, He has a small little hovel, one that i would not have thought a bard would stay in. The house was dry and warm so i cannot complain too much. We have kept food and drink in our bellies and when we get this bounty we will be set for life, Maybe buy a house in Brit and write the story of my life and adventures.

Day 36.
We have set ourselves to work by asking about town to try and find the person responsible for this bounty, we want to make sure it is more than just rumor as well to know whom we may be working for. I feel that we might be either exposing ourselves to a possible foe or that the bounty may be nothing more than another wild bard tale used to lure adventures into the wild where bandits or monsters will be set upon them, then a stroke of luck.... It seems the rumor is true after all. Rosemon and Tallin found the generous man outside the marketplace. He seemed dressed in finery of a noble however he did not carry himself as such. Tallin left Rosemon with the man and came to find Quint and myself so that we might all meet and discuss the terms of this job. The man never did give his name, and we did not press the issue, However he did give us an advance of 2000 gold to re-equip ourselves and prepare for a good hunt. We left him then and began our preparations by finding a tinker who could fashion a few items used to bypass a lock or two and a local mage who could provide us with a few scrolls to protect ourselves in the event our target was a spellcaster of some sort. After we procure our items tomorrow eve we will begin our hunt. However since we still have quite a bit of gold left we four have decided to have a night of fun and merriment because there is no telling when we might be near a town again to enjoy the finer things.

*This page is marred by the tell tell signs of various ink smudges as well as candle wax and smells faintly of strong liquor.*

Oh gods!!! How i am able to hold this quill and still write with any semblance to words is beyond even me. (I must though or else a book of our exploits may never get written) As the night wore on, we four found ourselves in the Sea Witch with bottles of various vintages in each hand and the company of women every time our gold landed on the table. Quint and Tallin were attempting to sing for the enjoyment of the tavern and i must say that with drinks in him, Quint's ability to sing falters greatly. It must have been four bells past midnight before we were able to stagger back to the cottage we have been staying in. Tallin fell in the woodpile next to the cook pot and he now snores soundly, Rosemon is slumped over the table across from me with one of Quint's lutes clutched in his hand as if it were his own, Quint is sound asleep across the room on the couch and from the noises i heard from him earlier i do not wish to see him when he wakes. I however must pen the happenings down so we can all look back someday and see how foolish we were in our youth...

oh gods... who would be knocking at this hour? perhaps it is some of the ladies from earlier and if so i will be adding a bit more flavor to this book, well i will leave off here so that i might answer the door and enjoy the rest of the night...

Submitted by a Guest Writer - name withheld.

This evening we had not fed the dragons due to some other activities and happenings. It was late in the evening when a few of the followers of Legends had gathered to feed the dragons that some odd occurrences began to take place.

It appears that Arius McNuge and I had been the only witnesses to the first of these two strange events. We had just finished slaying a regular sea serpent for the dragons to feast upon when an explosion of epic proportions, which appeared to have originated from one of the sea dragons, captured our attention. It was a massive explosion that made a big bang noise and spread several yards covering a large area. The explosion was bright blue in color, much like the color of the sea dragon’s scales. However, it did not seem to cause any harm to myself, Arius or the sea dragons.

I have seen two large explosions in the past that resemble this one. The color was quite similar to the cloud of debris given off from a successful cast of the Armageddon spell. The size and appearance of the blast was identical to the type of blast seen coming from the Bal’ Thran, only this one did not do any damage. We can only assume that the blast was a result of the feeding but it is unknown at this time.

At nearly the same time of the blast another occurrence took place. Luxon Artisan had discovered that Armondo Pascal’s dog Franchesco was on the loose again and wandering the town of Jhelom. Several of Legends finest had gathered to identify the pup and track him as we suspected he may lead us to another clue. Unfortunately he just continued to wonder about and was last seen inside the Jhelom Armory.

We suspect that these two events are related but are not for certain. For now we must continue to feed the dragons regularly in hopes that soon there will be a young Mythical Sea Dragon amongst us. It has also been advised that the citizens of Legends keep a close eye on Franchesco, as we know he can pick up a trail and point his nose and us towards more clues involving the Mythical Sea Dragons. I encourage all to investigate further and submit any data recorded to the EM mail box.

Tonight was Origins Labor Day Festivities! EM's Faine and Fiorella had an exciting and dangerous night planned for us. A nice crowd gathered at the top of Luna bank while we waited for our EM's.

Faine and Fiorella showed up sporting fancy beachware!

Once they arrived it was off to the beach for a bit of surf and turf. Faine and Fiorella seemed to have a bit of a quarrel going on between them, something about seeing a sea creature come up onto the beach...Fiorella grinned evily as she flashed her white nets and stepped nimbly into the water...INCOMING! She shouted and the fight was on!

After many MANY deaths, Faine and Fiorella felt that they had put us through enough and had us all gather around to wish our favorite Dark Lady a very happy birthday!

Overall a VERY fun Labor Day event! Thank you to EM's Faine and Fiorella for showing us a good time!

Have a Happy Labor Day Origin!

Posted to uoherald.com:

Compassion Gifts Incoming

Kai Schober

2 Sep 2011 18:27:50 EST

Greetings,

In earnest appreciation for your continuous support through the last few weeks we would like to  offer a gift of compassion to all our players. Below is a sneak peak of what’s to come.

By the end of next week when you log in you will receive one of four new special dyes that we have made for this occasion. You will only receive one dye per account per shard (trial accounts are excluded). These dyes function the same as Tokuno Dyes in that they can be used to tint artifacts and special material items. They come in four different colors:

            Lavender                                                         Slate Blue

            Hunter Green                                                     Phoenix Red

Have a great weekend!

The UO Team

Posted to uoherald.com:

Login Issues with the Enhanced Client

Kai Schober

1 Sep 2011 17:51:18 EST

Update 6:50 pm EST: The issue was solved and you can once again use the Enhanced Client to login.

 

Greetings,

Currently there is an issue that prevents some players with the Enhanced Client to log in. We are aware of this issue and will fix it as soon as possible.

Please keep an eye on the Herald for updates.

Posted to uoherald.com:

Publish 72 Comes to Test Center

Kai Schober

1 Sep 2011 15:53:35 EST

Publish 72 comes to Test Center today, along with the Enhance Client Patch 4.0.17 and the Classic Client Patch 7.0.17.

Here are the notes for your reading pleasure, thanks!

 

Publish 72.0.0

---

 

Clean Up Britannia

We are proud to announce the return of Clean Up Britannia!

Similar to the original Clean Up Britannia and subsequent Spring Cleaning events, you may now discard your unneeded items in exchange for points good for the purchase of interesting and powerful new items. Here’s how it works:

• Use a trash can, either in public or in your house, to discard items. When the items are destroyed, you are awarded points.
• You may appraise items before throwing them out. Select “Appraise For Cleanup” from a trash can’s context menu, and target items to appraise them.
• Speak to a Cleanup Officer in New Magincia, Britain, New Haven, Ter Mur, or Buccaneer’s Den to see how many points you have, and spend those points

Things you can Turn In

• All items which could be turned in for Spring Cleaning in 2008 may now be turned in for Clean Up Britannia
  • Many older and rarer items are now worth a lot more points!
  • Any leftover points for Spring Cleaning 2008 convert to points for Clean Up Britannia
• Many new items can now be turned in for points:
  • Almost any item crafted from wood, leather, or metal (the rarer the material used to craft the item, the more points it’s worth)
  • Almost any equipment loot drop (stronger magical item properties increase their point value)
  • Gold and Bank Checks
  • Raw resources such as leather, wood, and ingots (the rarer the resource, the more points it is worth)

Things you can Buy

• Most of the items from Spring Cleaning 2008 are available in Clean Up Britannia
  • The high-end item sets are available as replicas. These knock-offs are much cheaper in point cost, but have 125 durability and cannot be improved by Powder of Fortification.
• New Imbuable Item Sets are available:
  • Berserker’s Gear: the wearer gains a special berserk combat effect when at low health
  • Fisherman’s Gear: wearing these items enhances the effectiveness of any fish bait used by the wearer
  • Virtuoso’s Gear: these items improve a bard’s Mastery Bonus
• Various new decorative and equipment items are available for sale

 

Honesty Virtue

As you travel the lands of Trammel and Felucca, you may find lost items.  These items will say “Lost Item (Return To Gain Honesty)” when you mouse-over them. 

To turn in a lost item for Honesty credit: In a bank of each of the Virtue Towns (Britain, Yew, Moonglow, Trinsic, Skara Brae, New Magincia, Jehlom, and Minoc) there is a lost and found box.  Put the item in the box for Honesty credit.  You may use Forensic Evaluation skill to gain more information about the owner of the item.  If you turn the item into the Lost And Found Box in the city where the owner lives, you will get double Honesty points for your extra effort.  If you give the item to the original owner, you will get quadruple honesty points.

Honesty gives you discounts at NPC merchants.  The higher your rank in Honesty, the bigger your discount.  The discount is applied to the total purchase.  The discount is not shown in the merchant window, but you will see a system message once you make the purchase.

Other Virtue System tweaks:
The total virtue point cap has been increased so that it is easier to maintain Knight rank.
All virtues now decay at the same rate as the current rate for Valor.  (This is a significant decrease in decay rate for most virtues.)
Skills that had their decay rate reduced now spend virtue when you use them. 

 

Anniversary Gifts

Happy 14th Anniversary to all our players! This year we have done something a little different. We have a few new items and included last years items for anyone that may of missed them. Hope you enjoy this token of appreciate for all your years of dedication to UO. As always you have to be 30 days old to receive an anniversary gift. The gifts will stay active until October 31st.

 

Guild Voting Changes

Added functionality to resolve guild hierarchy issues when a guild has no active (characters that have logged in within the last 30 days) voting members. When a guild has no active voting members (Guild Leader, Warlords, Emissaries or Members) and only has active non-voting members (Ronins) the system will now hold a special election which will promote the guild member (Ronin) that was most recently active to become the guild master. If the system is unable to identify the most recently active member, it will randomly select an active guild member (Ronin) to promote. This special election will ONLY occur when there are no active voting guild members.

 

Halloween

This year’s Halloween Event will begin October 1st thru November 12th. We have added a special treat for you this year so keep your guard up. *evil grin*

 

Bug Fixes

• Converting stoneboots to Gargoyle stone Talons will no longer give a TID error.
• You can no longer use the Sacred Journey ability to recall away to your ship when you’re  flagged.
• The amount of ingots were corrected to be the same when salvaging in a bag or by the smith hammer.
• You can now salvage deer mask, bear mask, and tribal masks via the salvage bag.
• Gargoyle alterations should now recognize the small soul forge.
• Your poison skill will affect the poison strength applied to Shurikens and Fukiya Darts.
• Grape vines fished up from MIB’s will produce grape bunches (this does not apply to the ones already fished up). Non functional grape vines previously fished up can be traded in for functional items at the Ye Olde Winery in Yew.

 

Classic client  7.0.17

---

• Cliloc Changes

 

Enhanced Client  4.0.17

---

• Cliloc Changes
• Players are no longer able to filter out GM reponses
• Updated the Enhanced Client default target type for several mysticism spells

Posted to uoherald.com:

A Quick Note About Accounts

Kai Schober

1 Sep 2011 13:25:33 EST

Hello everyone,

   We wanted to give you guys a quick update on a few topics. The issue with Accounts being stuck in a Trial state has been fixed.  If you are still experiencing this problem please contact our Customer Service by placing an in-game petition. Housing is still in a no decay state till we finalize the testing, we hope to have this finished along with re-enabling Veteran Rewards by the end of next week.  We’ll keep you guys updated when we have additional information to pass along.

Thanks everyone!

The UO Team