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Server Move UO in Review -- 3 Nov 2006 Wilki Becomes Dev, No Longer Community Coordinator UO Week in Review--29 September 2006 Server Maintenance Unavailble at this time. July 2001 News: ^ top-Sooooo, You Guys Gonna Add Name Change Deeds Or What? [Gator] July 31 - 10:14 AM EDT Or What. Callandryll decided recently to lay the smacketh down on the rumor mill that just loves to get churning in UO on a day to basis. So without furthur ado... enjoy. First, thanks to everyone who has posted ideas here. While I am not directly working on the rewards, I did help design some of them and have kept an interest in the feedback. I would like to give some feedback though to help all of you when presenting your ideas by letting you know some limitations. Two things to keep in mind are that vet rewards should not give the player too much of an advantage (the ethereals are about the largest advantage that should be given from a vet reward) and that vet rewards are meant to be a symbol of the player's veteran status. That said, I've read a bunch of the ideas and I'd like to comment on the ones that I fear would be problematic or imbalancing, thus making them unfit for a vet. reward. Note that this represents current thinking, future enhancements to UO could change this... Stat/skill increases - we have no plans to permantently increase skill or stat caps at this time. Aside from the balance issues this would create there are also tons of code issues as those caps are inherent to many other systems. New wearables and art - not possible in the 2d client because of the issues with making them work on your avatar. Unless you wanted us to make wearables that ONLY worked in the 3d client, we cannot add new art like this to the game. Note that Blackthorn and British armor are not wearables. Most new art has these limitations at the moment. Blessed deeds/weapons - we removed the bless deed last year because of balance issues. While we know there are some in the world still, adding more (that are only available to vets) will not help. Name changes - again, Name Change Deeds were removed becuase of balance and support problems (mostly support). No plans whatsoever of ever putting these in, either as a reward or a general update. Stables - a great idea, but one fraught with peril. The stable master or hitching post idea has issues with the spawner that until resolved keep it from being considered. In truth, should those ever be resolved, this would probably be a general update, rather than a reward though. Please don't take this post as a slap down or my way of saying the ideas are bad. They're not. However, I do think it is usefull to you to know the limitations and the boundaries when scoping out your ideas. Again, thanks to everyone who has posted, we actually have not even started coding these yet (almost all efforts are on the upcoming publish) so there is time for revision. No promises of course, and I am glad to see so many positive responses to the current plan. So there you go, the rumor mill is offically squashed once again. I really love it when he comes out and lays it all out there. Much to the whiners dismay... Later ^ top-Spawn Camping 101 [Gator] July 31 - 9:02 AM EDT I am going to take a few minutes this morning to talk to you about Spawn Camping. Mainly I want to go over the basics of what to do, and not to do. Let me express that once again, this is the Basics. Nothing special, I will not be giving an inside tip on how to work the Blood Elemental spawn in Shame. I just want to hit up the overall idea and how to's to assit you in becomiing a great spawn camper. What is a Spawn? Basically a Spawn works like so, the Lands/Dungeons of Sosaria are broken down into sections, these sections are assigned certain creatures. There are set amounts of creatures that will spawn in these areas depending on the amount of creatures already inhabiting that area. Supposedly with the new Spawn changes incorporated a few months back, these numbers can vary depending on peak times and whatnot to satisfy the amount of players playing. In fact at one time acquiring a Frenzied Ostard (found in T2A) was a mucho pain in the ass. Why? Ostards couldnt be removed from T2A back then. They were a T2A only creature, so therefore all the tamers scooped them all up and packed them in the stables located in Papua and Delucia. Well since the stables were located on the same server, and all the Frenzied were there, you were bascially out of luck when it came to finding a Frenzied Ostard. Nightmares were locked up like this for awhile too. Eventually OSI made a few changes, they opened up T2A so the Ostards could cross over, Stables were unified the world over, so they were not server dependent anymore. So the Spawns opened back up again, thankfully. Now say that you are in a spawn, and one of the creatures wanders away from where it spawned at. That creature needs to be killed before another will take it's place. Its all simple really, say you want to kill Oscar the Orc all day. And Oscar the Orc only spawns at the very southern tip of Ice Isle. Well you recall to the spot, and Oscar is not around. You wait a good 20 mins and still no Oscar. Well you now need to go looking for Oscar because he has wandered away, and for more to spawn he needs to be killed. See isnt that easy? Equipment Ever seen a woman pack for vacation? This is a perfect example of what not to do before going on a "Camping Trip". Rule Number Uno: Only bring what you need. Two reasons for this. 1. If you die, and can't get back to your body in time, you wont loose anything unnecessary. 2. The whole point of Spawn Camping is to get loot. If you are carrying 2000 ingots on you, then you are severely hindering your max carrying abilities. So you went and bought yourself a purty Silver Exceedingly Accurate Broad Sword of Vanquishing last week with funds you earned from your l337 mining ability. This is rule number two, If you bring it, be prepared to loose it. Hey dying is a reality, even I die from time to time. And if you dont want to loose that Sword, then dont bring it to the party. Unless you have a fail safe method to get it back. But as we all know, nothing is fail safe in UO. Rule #3: Recall Books, keep em stocked with Recalls, and all your favorite spots. This is a two pronged point. Let me hit both seperatly. Most imprtant of all, ALWAYS MAKE SURE YOUR BOOK IS STOCKED WITH RECALLS. If you die, you have no regs/scrolls, therefore you have no way to get home or get back to the spawn. Keep this baby stocked it is your friend. Secondly, lets face it, Spawns get camped. There are Spawns everywhere for alot of different things. Dont be surprised at 9pm local shard time you recall into Destard to find your Grandmother in there Barding Drags much to her delight. Sooooo ensure you have plenty of locations to hit up to satisfy your needs. And most importantly, don't count out Fel! Felucca is a gold mine. Let me squash the rumors now. If you have only been playing in Post UO:R, Felucca isn't as bad as people make it out to be. Are there Reds? Yes there are. Out of the Reds I have seen nowadays, half of them have not even made attempt to bother me. And if anything just be ready to recall out to a safe spot. It's that easy. Rule #4: Bandaids can't live with them, can't live without them. It's as simple as that. You can also substitute Bandiads with the words regs, nightsight potions, weps, etc etc. I know for a fact that Nieves pet peeve is people running around dungeons screaming "IN Lor me!!" or "Heal Me!!". My favorite is "dEwd do you have a sword I can use?" WTF?!?! Be prepared. Have what you need to do what you have to do. Make sure you bring two weps in case one wears out or breaks. Bring enough regs to do the job, but dont bring enough to make a DP keg while your camping liches. Bring what you need. Rule #5: Invis is your friend. Whether it be by spell or item. Invis is extremely handy on a Spawn Camping trip. Getting low on health as that slime goes for your throat, simply run and invis. Likewise you can substitue hiding for invis. But why, Invis is practically automatic as long as you don't get interupted. Rule #6: Twinks enjoy ruining your day. Face it folks they are out there, and they love nothing more than looting your kills or blocking you in. So be prepared to deal with it or leave. That is pretty much the way it is. Rule #7: Be consistent. I try to hit the same spawn everyday at the same time. Mainly because I know that at the time I go, usually nobody is there. It works like clockwork. Most folks that show up leave, or come back later. That is if your lucky. But if you hit the same spawn at the same time everyday. It develops into something like magic. You develop a technique, and basically own the spawn. But also be warned that consistency can also endanger your Avatars life. In anti-terrorist training, they teach you to do things different all the time. Take different routes, pick different hangouts. And if your in Felucca dont think that reds dont scope out all the Spawns with ghosts. If they get used to seeing you at Destard everyday, they eventually will come for you. So be prepared. Well that pretty much sums up my Spawn camping class. I hope you got some information out of this. I know that alot of players already know this information. But hopefully some younger blood out there will get some better insight to the wonderful world of "Camping". Later ^ top-Adam Ant has a New Quest. [Nieves] July 30 - 9:35 PM EDT From Adam Ant: I'm putting on another quest where I'm giving away 1,000,000 gold plus other valuables. The event will be Staurday, August 4th, 2001 at 9:00 PM Pacific time, in the Yew Forest, providence of Napa valley. Also, I will be live WebCasting the event on AdamVision. You are welcome to simulcast this event yourself. (I'm happy to tell you how to host a live cast, or you can see the adam_ant_live.html above.) Take care and see you all Saturday! Regards, -Adam Ant PS. If you are wondering what an Adam Ant quest is like, take a look at this. And the official press release: Title: Adam Ant's Quest #IV - Battle at Oc'Nivelle The Basics: Please be a part of Adam Ant's new adventure: Prize: 1,000,000 in gold and other valuables. When: Saturday, August 4th, 2001 at 9:00 PM Pacific time. Where: In the Yew forest, under the shining Felucca moon, providence of Napa valley. 47o 17`N. x 34o 56`W. For more information, please visit game-master.net My beloved Guardians, I send you this most urgent message, as we have much to do. In the days before the eve-of-blood, the Mystic Council was the well-known and respected council to Lord British. This council saw to all things magical and helped to bring prosperity to our great land. Lord British was a kind and generous ruler, and bestowed great wealth upon his most loved and trusted advisers, one of which was my father, Kahn Anthias. The village of Oc'Nivelle was presented to the Council Elders as a gift when the last of the dragons had been banished and peace once again rained in Sosaria. North West of Britain, in a land called Yew, Oc'Nivelle awaits us. A place that we might train ourselves. A place for feasting and merry making. A place to call home. But know this my friends; the nearby town's drunkards, smiths, warriors and fools, have all been seen in Oc'Nivelle, scavenging and pillaging, and destroying what is rightfully ours! We must take back our home dear friends, least they find the great wealth hidden within. I have heard; there are 1,000,000 pieces of gold and the land's most valuable jewelry; golden rings and necklaces fit for a queen. When we return to Oc'Nivelle, the interlopers will merely think we have come to take back our land. We must not tip our hand and let on that there are far greater prizes held within. Ah! I have seen it friends, it is all there, a mountain of gold, a glittering beauty, a truly wondrous sight to behold! So come now fellow Guardians, stand beside me and defend our blood-right. For it was father's final wish that we Guardians take care of Oc'Nivelle until the Mystic Council can once again walk among the living. --Adamodious Anthias, Son of Kahn Anthias *************************** The Loot: The loot will be 1,000,000 gold and other valuable items. There will be 40 checks, each of which is 25,000 gold. (This means the first one to the loot won't necessarily get it all!) *************************** The Rules: As with all Adam Ant quests, you need only defeat the Guardians, kill Adam Ant, and claim the loot. (Easy huh?) As always: -Leave your pets at home -Don't give murder counts *************************** The Hints: -We Guardians don't often leave our riches lying about on the ground, so taking along the highly skilled lock-picker may prove valuable. -When the Guardians have been defeated, beware of those you think to be your friend, for 1,000,000 gold can turn the head of even the most loyal of comrades! -The Guardians of Undead Lords will protect their home and riches until the death. You have been warned. -While the warrior may lie the Guardian low, 'tis the cleaver that shall prevail. -There will be a live cast on the game-master WebCam to help you locate the treasure. *************************** The Sponsors: Adam Ant - 300,000 gold and other valuable goodies Reflex - 500,000 gold Isabella - 100,000 gold Aydin Xie - 100,000 gold -------------------- Lord Guardian, Adam Ant Sounds cool huh? You get to kill lots and lots of reds! If you want more information on it, go ask Adam. Hasta. ^ top-Don't Provoke Me... [Gator] July 30 - 8:13 AM EDT With the advent of publish 12, the Hedgemaze farm area was "fixed" on all shards. Severely hindering the skill gain capabilities of Provokers everywhere. Bards loved the saftey of the fence located there, and the enormous animal spawn that ran 24/7. According to OSI, this area was "broke" and wasnt meant to be that way. So, OSI finally got around to fixing it. Presently you will find some Imps ::cough::stupid::cough:: and a few Deamons ::cough::needmore::cough:: inhabiting the area around the hedgemaze. So what's a Bard to do? Read on my flock, let the good shepard show you the way to great l337 barding goodness. I have been working on a Bard on/off for months now on three different shards. Why? Because they rOxXor. The power of a bard is amazing, and I recommend everyone hop on the train before it gets derailed. But in my time of working the bastardly skill of Provocation I have tested a variety of methods to suit my Powergaming needs. And today, I share my secrets with you. None of these are amazing, or something rarely thought of. But these I hope will spark your imagination and help us all find that pot o' gains. Jhelom Farms Everyone knows this place. But what you may not know is a good tactic to Provoke all the animals you can. See, this area is fenced in, but its rather large so your Bard can't cover the enitre area from one side. So what you do is this. Run inside the fence, and attack everything. Chickens, cows, goats, rabbits, pigs, boars, sheep, the whole nine. (I usually leave the bulls for teh tamers. I hate tamers, but I figure, hey dont fuck with them and they wont fuck with you. Now if they do screw with you then its game on!) Once you get about 20 animals chasing after you hell bent on ripping open your neck and using it for feed, head for the fence and teleport over. Now the best palce to do this is in the NE corner. Try to get as far away from the houses as you can but stay near the fence. All the animals will come right for you and stand there. BAM now your set up. Provo away. If an animal tries to run off on you, simply go into War Mode and double click it, and it will come right back. Eventually you wont have to do this cause they will all be fighting. Let the animals kill each other off for a bit until you feel that you have attempted on all of them. Then drop a Meteor shower on them. 2-3 of these and you will see nothing but corpses. Also if any other animals wander onto your screen, make sure to attack them as well for even more targets. Is this effective? Let's face the facts. The Hedgemaze was awesome. So on the HedgeMaze scale of 1-10. I give the Jhelom farms and this method a 7. Ice Isle Two methods for here. Run around and Provoke everything. Or find a log cabin with vendors on the porch. more specifically find a Log Cabin with a vendor standing right at the stairway going up to the porch. This guy is to you what a 6'7" 320lb Offensive Tackle is to a Quarterback. Hes your protection. See animals cant pass though him, but you can. Now just round up a bunch of critters like you did in the Jhelom method and provo away again. Hedgemaze Scale: 4. Lag is bad here, and you can get quite enough targets to use. Bit it still works, just not as good as Jhelom. Any Spawn Hotspot Destard, Liches, Deamons, Blood Elementals. Lets face it these spots work best. Why cause you get filthy rich!! Gains are slow as hell here, but you are making cash in the process so who cares!! Afterall, why else would you be making a bard. Hedgemaze Scale: 1(10) 1 because there arent many targets. 10 Because of ALL THAT LOOT!! Anyways I hope this helps everyone. At least a little bit. Where are your favorite Provoke Spots? Later ^ top-Random Thoughts from Nieves. [Nieves] July 29 - 11:51 PM EDT I had started to notice how much everybody likes to complain. About their health, their job, their boss, their relationships, their family. People go on and on about what's wrong with their life and how everybody else is making life difficult for them. But the things that happen to you are created by the actions in your immediate past. By the same token, the things you do in this life--your actions, words, behavior--all determine what happens to you in the next life. Now, just imagine if you had to write up your own "account statement" at the end of your life. You can hide from other people but you can't lie to yourself; you know who you've complained about, what tasks you've left unfinished, and which promises you failed to keep. If you think about it this way, you could say that you've created a pretty exciting plot. You've set the stage for a character with all sorts of interesting motivations, unresolved issues, mistakes that he or she needs to address or redress or correct the next time around. In fact, you might say that you are constantly writing the script for your next life. Or that you might think twice when you complain about your current situation--because who do you think is responsible for making it happen? Who do you think arranged for certain characters to show up at certain moments? Who fashioned tragic twists in the story, and the difficult challenges and situations? Karma writes the script, and you alone are responsible for your karma. If more people thought about it this way, the world might be very different. There would be less complaining. People might make big changes in their attitude. Maybe they'd be nicer to other people, and start acting in a more loving way. From a very wise man. That is what makes a true Martial Artist. Not his fists or hands, but the way he carries himself. Anyway...an Epyon Update from his girlfriend. He was a passenger in a car leaving a party on last sunday, and got broadsided by a Lincoln Navigator. The impact crushed joes door on him, his right side is in very rough shape, his arm is totally disabled right now, and he has limited movement in his leg Please pray for him, his girlfriend, and his family. I am told he's coherent, but will "fade in and out". Don't let your friends drive drunk! You have no clue how important that statement is. And if you are drunk, DON'T DRIVE YOU STUPID SON OF A BITCH! Enough said. Good night. Hasta. ^ top-Favor from all of you readers. [Nieves] July 29 - 8:39 PM EDT I have posted two stories in the stories section from a friend. I need you guys to tell me what you think of the writer's style. Not necessarily her personality ("she sucks and she's a NEWBIE!") but HOW she presents herself and if you find her stories worthy of a continuing feature here at UOPG. Hasta ^ top-Epyon's Hiatus. [Nieves] July 29 - 6:33 PM EDT I got news that Epyon was in a car accident and was in the hospital a week ago. The reason I haven't mentioned it earlier was I didn't (and still don't) have all the details as of yet. Once I get the details, I will provide you with more information. Pray for him. Hasta. ^ top-The Color Purple [Eric] July 29 - 10:36 AM EDT No, not the movie. Cynthe of OSI spoke the following on purple hued items: Actually, there will most likely be a strengthened stance on these items very soon - meaning that they WILL be considered illegal to own, and players will be punished for having purple sigil-hued items in their possession. If this does become the casse, however, we will announce it on the site, and put it in the patch message as well, so no one will be caught completely by surprise. We want to rid the game of items created through an exploit, but we certainly don't want to catch people unaware for something they may not have realized would get them in trouble. The best advice for you right now is to make sure to check the patch message whenever you log in to see if something has been posted about this matter. :) Dump your purple items, folks. OSI has been known to ban without warning (even though Cynthe explained that there will be a warning). By the sound of her message, purple items are not illegal at the moment (they won't get you in trouble right now), but they ARE caused by an exploit. So, your best bet is to get rid of them now if you don't want to risk trouble with the OSI police. I never liked purple anyway. Cya later. ^ top-Bloodpledge, Day 1 (Random Notes) [Nieves] July 28 - 3:01 PM EDT Sweet. Fun. Wow. Those were the first 3 words out of my mouth after I figured out a few things about it. If you haven't noticed, I posted (July 24th) about getting a "Press Account" from Leilo to mess around with Lineage: BP. One thing I absolutely do NOT like about the game is the lack of being able to run. Here I am strolling along in the woods with my Zombie slave that I "resurrected" and a spider comes out of nowhere and kicks my ass. Lame as hell. Later on, a player was kind enough to tell me that I could not run in the game unless I cast the spell Haste on myself. Lame. And you can only assign 4 spells to the F9-F12 keys. Lame. The graphics are not the best in the world. But they are not the worse either. Also, I was having fun. Leilo had provided me with an account that had a Level 15 Elf and a Level 30 Mage, also, I think there is an empty slot for another character. I logged on with the Elf and quickly got killed by an orc when I couldn't figure out how to arm my weapons and armor. After figuring it out, I got out there and killed some orcs. Very sweet. When the monster dies, the loot falls to the ground. Not on the corpse like in UO, but on the ground. Lame. But the fighting grahpics are VERY nice and very smooth looking IMHO. After dieing again to some random orc (I was trying to figure out the magery system and I couldn't get it to work right and the orc finished me off), I picked up the Level 30 Mage and got out in the woods. After lightning bolting and fireballing a couple of orcs, I decided to look through the spell list and see what other goodies Leilo had for me. Summon Zombie and Tame Animal caught my eye. I walked back to the last orc corpse I killed and cast Summon Zombie on it. 2 seconds and some pretty nice graphics later, I had a Zombie Slave. Necromancy boys and girls!!! Bloodplege has Necromancy! This is when the spider found me and ate me. Note: When I died, I didn't lose anything. Kind of good, and kind of bad. I wound up back in town when I "restarted". I will look into this more. I moved on with a player that agreed to accompany me. He was taking me where I could buy a map so I could see where the hell I was going. No overhead map feature. Lame. While we were walking around, I saw some werewolves and it's wolven companions chasing a guy in a cloak (I assumed he was some type of cleric). Very very sweet. We walked past a pile of dirt that suddenly animated into a Stone Golem. He kept walking past it and didn't stop. I followed. We passed another and he kept going. He would kill the Werewolves and orcs we found, but totally ignored the Stone Golems. I will have to keep that in mind. Somethings I noticed about Bloodpledge. There are Lord titles in the game. There were people "dueling" in combat zones. You can't meditate for mana (or I haven't figured it out). The graphics are somewhere in between Diablo and UO3D (NOT UO2D) IMHO. The gameplay didn't seem as smooth as UO2D, but I believe I got this impression due to my not being able to run as in UO. If you walked around in UO all the time, that is what Lineage feels like. Smooth. But no running. Yes, I keep complaining about this. I can run in every other game I played, but not Lineage. Lame. This game feels like what UO should be with UO's current skillset and game engine. At least that's the impression I get by comparing UO3D, UO2D, and Lineage. Later on, I will have screen shots to compare the games different presentations of its features. One thing I TOTALLY adore about this game is the help engine. Now, I would click a button on the bottom left and a submenu would scroll in from left to right. On it was a question mark, a head, a bag, and a cross. The question mark was the help section. I don't know if this is just for this account or for the game itself, but I will say this: it totally rocks. Most questions I had about general game play were answered within that text. I wish UO had that. Or at least something as rich as their help system. In fact, ALL games should have this type of feature built in. The head was my character's paperdoll (think Diablo II). The bag was my backpack, and the cross was my spelllist. There were some blank spots I assumed were spots for different types of character classes. You cast spells either using a hot key or double clicking a spell and then picking a target. Some spells are only self targeting (IE-Shield, a type of "Protection" spell). And the range on some spells are about 1/2 of what UO is. Lame on that one. Now the graphics are VERY nice. The Lightning spell shoots from your hands to your target as a bunch of little bolts, a la Diablo. Also, I saw in the list curse:Paralyze, cure poison, heal, and a greater heal type spell. Also, their teleport spell is different. It puts you at a point that you were last. I haven't figure out how to "mark" a spot yet. Higher level spells require gems or the like to cast with. When I get more info, I will provide it to you. Fighting with a blade is just as it is in UO. Put your cursor over a target, and dbl click. Difference is, you have to keep clicking. Otherwise you get your ass handed to you. Trust me, I know. Getting wasted by a slime sucks. The game also features different types of potions that you can use. I did find the heal ones, the rest I can't figure out yet. The chat feature is great because you have a local talk feature (like in UO), a shout feature for everything on screen, and a shard talk feature so you can talk to everyone on the shard (I assumed that anyway). I saw alot of people conducting trades through the mass chat "engine". Anyway, that's my random thoughts. Later on, when I get settled at home, I will create a new character (probably a fighter at first) and start picking up on general game play. After about a week of that, I will dump him and create a mage to see how that works. I will also try to get to know the general "culture" of the players and give you my run down on it. I am going to assume that they are about the same as the UO playerbase. Why do I say this? A player came up to me and asked: "Hey, can I have some gold?" Hasta. ^ top-Fallen Game...err...Age [Eric] July 28 - 8:59 AM EDT I knew that chat regarding FA's future wouldn't be a good thing. FALLEN AGE IS PUT ON INDEFINITE HOLD Diamond Bar, California, July 27, 2001-Fallen Age, the innovative massively multiplayer online game from Netamin has been placed on hold indefinitely, the company announced today. "We have run into creative differences with our partners in Korea, and have decided this week that we had no choice but to put the game on hold," said Daniel "Savant" Manachi, Producer of Fallen Age. "As a result, the beta servers will be shut down this weekend." "We sincerely apologize to our testers for the time and effort they've put into helping test the game," said Manachi. "Because of their dedication, we are working with the folks at Mythic Entertainment to enable Fallen Age testers to move to the Dark Age of Camelot Beta." "We'll have details in the coming week(s) for the testers regarding this move, and we greatly appreciate Mythic for working with us. While we are all competitors, it's nice to know that the players can come first," said Manachi. And from the chat... Savant - Some of you might know this already, since some news sites posted the press release already. Savant - As of today, Fallen Age is on hold, indefinitely. As most of you know, updates and patches were delayed many times over from their end... coupled with creative design differences, we've placed the project on hold, to hopefully work these issues out. If we're able to work them out, Fallen Age will make a triumphant return. If not... Savant - I'm deeply sorry for this, we're all quite sad here in the office... We think you guys have been some of the coolest testers/fans/People we've met. Savant - To show our appreciation for your dedication, and also in the tradition of us being here for you -- We're making arrangements with Mythic Entertainment to move you guys over to the DAoC Beta (if you choose to go). Savant - In addition, we're making a very special t-shirt with a dead slug on the front, and a small memorial message on the back -- which we'll be sending out in a few weeks once they're done being printed. Thank you Watts for the information. In my personal opinion, I don't think Fallen Age will be coming back. The game lacked the ability to addict its players. Do you recall your first time playing UO? I mean, after you were killed by guards and mongbats. The game was fun - addicting. It had an elements to it; something that made you want to keep playing to get your character better, to reach various different template goals, kill dragons, take over factions, war guilds - or simply sit around in your house and organize it. Fallen Age lacked ALL OF THIS. Gain levels...kill slugs...kill slugs...oh, and you were also able to kill slugs. At first when Lawyer brought the news of FA out on UOPG and told all of the updaters we would all have beta testing spots, I was excited for this game. It looked like it had good potential. But if you ask anyone from UOPG who tried FA, we all hated it (as far as I can remember). Don't get me wrong, FA did have its small amount of fans who had faith in the game and played it hoping to help fix up bugs and turn the game into another UO, EQ, AC, or any other MMORPG that was or is successful. Well, that's life. At least we all know where Nieves will be. Cya later. ^ top-Trammel vs. Felucca - do I dare ask? [Eric] July 27 - 9:19 AM EDT Cynthe (UO Community Manager)speaks on the topic of Trammel vs Felucca debates, posted on the official UO Boards : A common topic here on these boards lately has been the debate between players who prefer the Trammel facet and those who prefer Felucca. While it's perfectly understandable that players want to defend their preferred style of play, and their preferred facet, almost every one of those threads degenerates into a shouting match, replete with name-calling and personal attacks. These threads bring down the atmosphere of the boards, taking focus away from players who actually want to communicate their ideas and questions about Ultima Online. Even phrases such as "carebear", "newbies" or "griefers" - if they're used to represent an entire facet of players - are insults. As a rule, don't generalize. There are veteran players who prefer Trammel, and there are honorable people who prefer Felucca. It all comes down to a matter of taste, and that's why there are choices. If you can't stand the play style of one facet, don't play there. If you dislike an idea that someone has suggested about either facet, debate it if you wish... but if any of the posters in the thread resort to name-calling and insults, the thread will be locked, and the poster will be warned. This certainly doesn't mean that people aren't allowed to speak their minds. Discuss the issues, but let your facts speak for you. Be civil and reasonable. Prove your point by having a stronger argument, and by taking the time to explain your reasonings. Don't resort to the "I'm right because you're stupid" defense. Also important is the fact that insults are never appropriate - even if they're made in response to another flame. "But he flamed me first!" is not an acceptable reason to feed flames on these boards. And, probably most important, you will not change some peoples' minds. If you are a die-hard PVPer, you will not change the mind of someone who can't stand PVP. And vice versa. In the end, you simply have to agree to disagree. Otherwise, the fight goes on forever, and accomplishes nothing. In order to be able to deal with these threads more efficiently and quickly, I'm going to leave this post locked here for a while, and simply refer to this when/if I lock Trammel vs. Felucca threads. Thanks for understanding, and with the arrival of our new Community Coordinator Sannio and a renewed dedication to clearing up the fights on the boards, I hope to see the UO community become a more helpful and friendly place for all involved! I'll leave you with that. Post your thoughts. ~ Eric ^ top-Who's #1? [Eric] July 26 - 11:40 PM EDT Because I like to brag... (Side note: At the time this message was posted, UOPG was #1. After midnight when the list resets, there may be a short period of time where we are not #1.) Cya later. (I promise, I'll stop posting tonight.) ^ top-To anyone who is still interested in FA... [Eric] July 26 - 11:32 PM EDT I received the following from Savant, Fallen Age's producer, in my e-mail box today: Hey everyone, Savant here. This email is going out to all of you currently in Beta... We here at Netamin have some important news about the future of Fallen Age, and we'd like to discuss it with all of you first. So, please join us tomorrow, Friday the 27th, in the #Fallenage room on the Stratics IRC server at 5 p.m. Pacific Standard Time (8pm EST). You can find information on how to connect to Stratics IRC here: http://chat.stratics.com/content/community/connect.shtml I look forward to seeing you all there. Sincerely, Daniel "Savant" Manachi Producer, Online Games Netamin Communication Corp. I personally have not played FA beta much at all since I received the beta CD months ago, so I'm curious if this chat tomorrow night will be regarding good or bad news about FA's future. I probably won't attend, but if anyone out there is still with FA and wants to fill me in on the result of the chat, feel free to e-mail me. Cya later. ^ top-Fresh blood. [Eric] July 26 - 11:20 PM EDT News was delivered today that Cynthe from the Ultima Online Community Relations department has hired two new employees for her department. Their names are Sannio & Kerowyn. There is one main reason why I like both of these new OSI employees: From Sannio: Players from Baja may know me as Nobody, Brother Huberty, or Nathan Harper, among others. In some way or another, I’ve been involved with a lot of groups & communities there, such as Britannia Search & Rescue, the Freeborn Press, Avalon, Lumaria, Golden, the Golden Players, the Baja Mage Tower, the Scorpions, the Kingdom of Dawn, and even UO Stratics’ Baja section, plus a whole bunch more....I’ll also be trying to be your voice here at Origin, keeping everyone here informed in all the things that you care about or ways in which you’d like the game to advance & grow. And from Kerowyn: It’s been three years since I first stepped into the world of Sosaria. I’ve gone through three years of building skills, changing character templates, meeting new people, adventuring and, of course, dying. Why do I like these guys? They are former UO players. Although I'm sure some of the current OSI team may have once been UO players, these are "fresh" employees who have a better idea of how we, the players, feel about UO's current state, considering they have recently been playing the game as players like you and I. I think with people like this, UO can take further steps towards what the players would like to see. Don't get me wrong, OSI has made some changes lately that have been in our favor (and some that have not been.) But with employees who serve as "our voice," we may see more advancements to our liking. Sannio, if you noticed, is basically Melantus' replacement (Online Community Coordinator). Way to go OSI, you are taking some of the right steps. If you want to read Sannio and Kerowyn's full introductions as well as a comment from Cynthe, go here. Cya later. ^ top-Time to start saving up... [Nieves] July 26 - 3:53 PM EDT Why? Because of this picture from Neverwinter Nights. It's a picture of a character casting a spell called Color Spray. That is one of the most twisted, and effective spells ever devised for Dungeons and Dragons. Here is a run down of it: A vivid cone of intertwined, clashing colors springs forth from the character's hand, stunning creatures, blinding them, or even knocking them unconscious. The closest 1d6 creatures in the cone are affected. The spell affects each subject according to its HD: Up to 2: Unconscious for 2d4 rounds, then blinded for 1d4 rounds, and then stunned for 1 round. (Only living creatures are knocked unconscious.) 3 or 4: Blinded for 1d4 rounds, then stunned for 1 round. 5 or more: Stunned for 1 round. In addition to the obvious effects, a blinded creature suffers a 50% miss chance in combat (all opponents have full concealment), loses any Dexterity bonus to AC, grants a +2 bonus to attackers’ attack rolls (they are effectively invisible), moves at half speed, and suffers a –4 penalty on Search checks and most Strength- and Dexterity-based skills. A stunned creature can’t act and loses any Dexterity bonus to AC. Attackers gain +2 bonuses to attack it. Sightless creatures are not affected by color spray. The graphics within that image are absolutely amazing for this game. Also, for those that want news and errata for the new AD&D 3rd Edition rules, check out RPG Planet's, Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News Site Have we figured out that I really really really like and am going to want to play Neverwinter Nights? If anyone wants to get me a Christmas Present, that's what I want dammit. UPDATE ON PERSONAL SITUATION: I have already said. It's a waiting game now. Thank you for all the prayers and support you have give me and my family. We REALLY did/do need it. Realize, that I wrote that update (Absence) in case I had to disappear for an extended length of time. Let's hope I don't have to. Hasta. ^ top-Guess. [Nieves] July 26 - 2:46 PM EDT Guess where this came from: Took me about three days off and on to GM hiding from 80. I was working 8x8 for stealth and then hiding started raising with it. Easily raised stealth from 30 to 90 in about three days as well. Started out naked until about 50, put on plate gorget and ring mail gloves at 60, added plate arms at 70, then a robe at 80 to make my AR 15. Hiding gained steadily along with it. I would've gotten to 100 stealth but I took a shower and let the macro run to find a gain for 8x8. When I came back I was sitting on a wooden plank in the middle of the water with a white gate on it. Safe bet I got caught. Wasn't my boat anyway. I haven't gotten a letter from OSI yet so maybe I dodged a bullet. Notice would probably take about a week to be processed anyway. C'mon. Guess! Ok ok, I will give you ONE hint. Hasta. PS-Best thief guide in the UO world IMHO. Once I get things settled around my house, and I get the skills pages updated (no, I am not done), I will rape his guides and post/link them here. MUHUHAHAHAHA! ^ top-Since I have to wait and wait and wait... [Nieves] July 26 - 12:34 PM EDT I will bring you some news from Battle Vortex. Vendor restocking was changed as part of publish 12 and 13 bug fixing effort. Since the release of UO, vendor restocking has never worked the way it was designed to. I discovered this while fixing the problem with mage vendors disconnecting players when they restock. Vendor restocking has been changed in these ways: 1) Reagent shopkeepers will no longer disconnect players when they restock. This problem was caused by the shopkeepers restocking one item at a time for each shopkeepers in the area. Each time this happened, a packet was sent to every player near the vendor. Not only did this disconnect players but it lagged the servers. This was an obvious bug, but has been in there since the game shipped. It wasn’t noticeable until shopkeeper max stock targets were raised to 999. All shopkeepers now restock their inventories in bulk. 2) All NPC shopkeepers will restock their inventory randomly, although the average number of times a vendor restocks over a certain period of time has not changed. This was implemented mainly to help reduce lag spikes caused by restocking. It has the obvious side effect that it is no longer possible to predict when a shopkeeper will restock, and shopkeepers in the same area will no longer restock at the same time. 3) The rate at which vendors increase and decrease their inventories has been modified. They increase their inventory faster and decrease their inventory slower. The amount that their inventory is increased or decreased is a function of their stock target and current inventory at the time they restock. This may be a more controversial change, but “4 out of 5 players prefer more regs!” Cool, huh? Hasta. ^ top-Spread the love [Nieves] July 26 - 11:50 AM EDT Adam Ant's Chronicle of Evil is alive and kicking. For all you PKs and PvPers, these are good reads. Not just for entertainment value, but for battle tactics knowledge as well. Ever got caught in a 4-5 v 1 and wanted to run? Bah, let Tanquery of the Guardians of the Undead Lords show you how to defeat those odds. Heck, maybe even the non PvPers would enjoy this. Now, all you Non-PvPers, don't complain because people enjoy themselves in such a "fashion". You have Trammel now. No reason to complain to the powers that be about PKs, et al. You can sit perfectly safe in a land all for you. In fact, you also have Ilshenar, to which Reds/Murderers can only visit but once a month. Note: PKs cannot attack you in Ilshenar. Quit worrying. Isn't life grand? No, but, someone's got to have hope right? Hasta. ^ top-Backup changes happening to most shards today. [Nieves] July 26 - 9:51 AM EDT Balhae and Arirang are the only two shards NOT getting these changes today, June 26th. A warning: Please note: As this backup system decreases the amount of time required for a shard backup, it will also decrease the amount of ‘warp time’ available prior to a maintenance period. We urge that players keep this in mind when playing before a scheduled maintenance period. I would avoid participating in server downtime wars anymore. Hasta. ^ top-Logic behind losing BS's poison. [Eric] July 26 - 12:29 AM EDT Helios (not sure who he is) of OSI stated the following: Blade spirits do excellent damage/time without poison. Keep in mind that for a spell that is only 5th circle this spell is (still) extremely powerful - only now it is better balanced amongst the other spells and vs. other means of offense of the same play level. If you think about it, there is logic to weakening the blade spirits. Energy bolt is a 6th circle spell, and we can all agree that blade spirits can cause more damage than the e-bolt. Doesn't that still leave blade spirits in good standing as far as strength, considering the fact that it's in the 5th circle? If you're bitching about it being weaker, don't. It should be as weak as it has been made. Once again, good fix OSI. You're on the right track. Cya later. ^ top-Publish 12 ROCKS! [Nieves] July 25 - 10:03 PM EDT I must consider my sins giving counts. Yah baby! Regs and Ingots on NPC vendors at good prices. SWEET! And the number one reason Nieves likes Publish 12? Worship it. Hasta. ^ top-What is Watts doing now? [Nieves] July 25 - 6:55 PM EDT Damn you Blizzard. Damn you to hell. And not that cute fuzzy hell you guys invented. I mean the real one where Diablo sticks a fork in your ass and toasts you a nice golden brown over a lake of fire. But metaphorically speaking of course. I think he's having fun. What do you think? Hasta. ^ top-Some official EV & BS news. [Eric] July 25 - 6:06 PM EDT Adrick posted the following... The energy vortex and blade spirit AI was rewritten to remove alot of inefficiency in their cycle counts. This has resulted in substantial reduction in dungeon server cpu cycles used by these programs. As a result they now attack targets with better prediction and spend less time "thinking" and more time fighting their target. The z exploits have been removed so that they can be dispelled correctly. Using a blade spirit or Energy Vortex on creatures that have the ability to dispel them is not going to be effective unless those creatures are mana drained. Ive done some checking and they appear to be working (they do damage, they are dispelled correctly, they attack). Balrons are one of the most challenging monsters in the game - it may indeed take more of them to kill the more challenging monsters but for the (upper mid) level creatures they should be functioning the same. So yes, EV's and BS's will be noticeably weaker on the stronger monsters. The one thing I like is that they no longer "think." What does Adrick mean by "think?" Basically, the EVs/BS's will no longer sit idle when there are targets in the line of sight. A dragon for example will target you almost immediately if you are within its view. Blade spirits and EVs will now act in the same manner. Although they are weaker, I think this one fix helps a bit. Adrick also posted: Im taking the feedback here seriously and I just concluded a test on the Lake Superior shard. I created a normal lich, I set its mana to 0. I then at 100 magery cast 1 energy vortex and it imeddiately attacked the lich - I timed it in 29 seconds the lich was dead and the energy vortex was the slightest sliver harmed. Yes there were changes to the energy vortex spell as I detailed in several posts. 1] They now actually fight an enemy in that they can hit or miss. 2] They no longer spend extra cycles evaluating targets - they chose a target and fight it thus reducing lag mostly on the dungeon servers where these spells are common. 3] They no longer poison. A lich is a mid level creature so my information about the relative strength of EV vs mid to high mid creatures was correct. Thanks Adrick - I'm glad OSI actually takes the time to report the results of the changes they make. What sucks? EVs no longer poison. Aside from poison though, they seem to maintain their usual strength. If anyone does any further tests (ex. see how EVs/BS's work on cyclops or ogre lords), drop me a line. Cya later. ^ top-Doesn't anyone pay attention? [Nieves] July 25 - 10:11 AM EDT Database Maintenance July 25th Ultima Online will be unavailable from 3:00 am - 6:00 am PDT Wednesday, July 25th for database maintenance. We apologize for any inconvenience. Hasta. ^ top-Welp I just had to share! [Vasilias] July 25 - 5:00 AM EDT Would like to take the time to fill you all in on something quite prolific that has had a profound impact in my life. Perhaps this is the place, perhaps not. It's a powergaming website I know, but you are all my extended family in some fashion or another so I just hafta share my fortune. Tonight at 1:45 AM I welcomed a new member to my family. One that brought tears to my eyes as the experience was nothing less than awesome. With such an impact that for those that have had the experience know the elation I felt seeing it transpire. For those that have not....fear not for you are sure to eventually. 6 pounds 10 ounces, 19 inches long of sheer joy was born unto me a daughter. I now open a new chapter in my life. One called fatherhood. Savanna Arlene is a true blessing. I hope I am up to that task! ^ top-Neverwinter Nights Update for tonight [Nieves] July 24 - 11:30 PM EDT Go here, here and here. Then write me and tell me how much you love this freaking game. Hasta. ^ top-Damn I need an account over at BV [Nieves] July 24 - 7:13 PM EDT Check it. One of the best thought out and presented PvP arguements I have ever read since reading anything on this topic. I can understand a bit more what these folks are saying. Maybe if it was put this way to me a week ago, I might've understood better. We need to be like that. Either way, I put this to you all. What matters when it comes to playing any game online in a PvP environment? Connection, System, and THEN skill. Skill is secondary to the first two when playing online PvP games like UO or EQ. Games like Starcraft or Warcraft are more skill based IMHO because you are managing a shit load more resources and have to make 10 different decisions at once as well as taking time to build your forces and then attack or defend. Granted, there is the factor of cheaters using hacks, but those can be controlled (to a point). Anyway, I am talking about something I don't know anything about. I will shut up now before someone mentions my name in an update again. Hasta ^ top-Now that shit is bad.... [Nieves] July 24 - 4:47 PM EDT I get a goodie via email. Hi Nieves - Sorry about the delay on this, but I was sorting out how and where I set up press accounts. :) I've set you up with a press account. The account name is "[Nunyabusiness]" and the password is "[can'thaveit]". The account contains a 30th level wizard character and a 15th level elf character on the Depardieu server. It is active for the next 30 days. If you need more than 30 days, let me know? (Note - do not attach any form of billing to this account as it will muck it up horribly, chaos will reign, dogs and cats will live together, and the four horsemen of the apocalypse will ride again...) If you have a fast connection, you can download Lineage from any of the sites listed on our download page - if not, let me know and I'll pop a CD into the mail for you. Let me know if you have any other questions? -Leilo Excuse me while I go out and give Leilo lots of loving. Hmmm...I just thought of something. I email OSI about stuff, I don't get the best of results (No offense W.L.), but I email Lineage and look what happens. I hope this isn't a sign of things to come. Hasta. ^ top-Blue Light Special On Isle 17 [Gator] July 24 - 1:53 PM EDT Logged in today with the Publish 12 changes fully incorporated, and recalled to my local Reg shoppe. "Vendor buy" ::Scrolls Down:: BlackPearl: 999 Ginseng: 999 Blood Moss: 999 Mandrake Root: 999 Garlic: 999 Nightshade: 999 Sulphorous Ash: 999 Spiders Silk: 999 wOOt!!!! All you pack-horse-totin-buyin-regs-selling-high-mofos can kiss my hairy white ass!! No shit, Three runs to the shoppe and I had my reg supply fully stocked for the next week. OSI, YOU DA MAN!! Later ^ top-At least we had UO:R (UO:2D) when UO:3D came out. [Nieves] July 24 - 1:32 PM EDT Anarchists didn't. A snippet from a review: BSometer If ever a release was full of bullshit, this is it. Funcom's promises were grand indeed, and by releasing the game in such a shoddy unplayable state, they've failed to deliver on virtually every one of them. After taking flack from players for weeks, Funcom representatives declared that they were beginning the billing cycle and counting down the free month, and then all but vanished entirely from the message boards. Their "daily updates" on the status of the many, many, many bug fixes needed to make this game worth the money paid for it have became every-other day updates, at the time of this review, it's been four days since players have heard a peep from Funcom. Unless, of course, you count the frequent in-game messages, with such helpful content as "We apologize for this inconvenience: all servers are going down in five minutes for emergency maintenance. No ETA is available at this time for restoration of service." In their words: As it stands, I recommend that you stay away from this game. Far, far away. It's not enough that you don't buy it - if you see it in a store, don't come near it. Don't touch it. Don't even make direct eye contact - with so many bugs in a single box, god only knows what you might catch. And the award they gave this game? Check out Hard News. They got some great writers. And check out their review of Undying. Be afraid. Thanks to Battle Vortex for the information. Yes, I am still around. After 3PM today, we will see exactly what is the fate of my "situation". Hasta. ^ top-Can you feel it? [Eric] July 24 - 10:28 AM EDT Posted to FYI: As a reminder, we will be monitoring all public shards once they have received Publish 12 to see that the publish is running optimally before we will activate veteran rewards. Please note that this means players will not be able to choose rewards immediately once the publish is received. The rewards system will be activated systematically on pre-determined shards, and we will post a schedule once it is determined. We are working to see that this delay will be as short as possible, and we appreciate your patience. Now that publish 12 here, veteran rewards are around the corner. Do I dare ask what you're going to choose for YOUR rewards? Cya later. ^ top-Absence [Nieves] July 23 - 6:48 PM EDT A series of events occured this weekend that could change my life forever. If things go the path of Murphy's Law, you might not see Nieves around for awhile. Maybe never again. I leave things in the capable hands of the updaters. When a team member is down, a good team will pick up the slack and make things happen. And UOPG has a good team. Even if we don't all agree on all things. I leave you with these thoughts tonight: If you have kids, love them. Love them with all your heart. Whether you believe in God, Allah, or Buddha, these children were given to you as gifts. Gifts to be cherised and taken care of. Don't lose sight of that. They are the only things you can actually say you own. They are of your flesh. Your blood. They are a living extension of who and what you are. If you are a child, tell your "parent" (whomever that may be) you love them and to do something with you. It doesn't matter what. Just get them to set aside time for you. You lose parents and, unfortunately, children in this horrid and cruel life. Love them for as long as they are here. Hold them whenever you can. Hasta ...hopefully, only for now. ^ top-Here it comes... [Nieves] July 23 - 4:04 PM EDT This one is for you Regulus: Publish 12 will be published to all remaining shards today, to be active following their next maintenance period. Go to Stratics or UO's official site to see the schedule for individual shards. Hasta. ^ top-Give them back their houses Biyotches! [Nieves] July 23 - 12:42 PM EDT Tomorrow afternoon (July 24th) at 11:00 pm CDT, we will be reactivating house decay on all shards. Houses currently marked as condemned will be uncondemned before the decay is turned back on, and will not collapse when the system is reactivated. Please note that once the decay rate is turned back on, all players will need to refresh their homes as they normally would. For information on housing decay rates, see http://guide.uo.com/house_6.html." Everyone that lost their houses should write into OSI and tell them, in a "professional" way of course, what they feel about this situation. OSI should recompense individuals that have lost items of this nature in the game due to OSI errors. I am sure OSI employees that play UO and have lost items this way had them reclaimed/replaced. Why can't the rest of us get the same courtesy? But that's just an assumption. Hasta. ^ top-Best to just walk away... [Nieves] July 23 - 11:56 AM EDT I admit, when someone calls me a newbie or does some stupid shit, like dispelling a gate a friend of mine casts for us, I tend to get really upset and will do my best to let that person know what I think of them and their behaviour. And then some. Ask any of my guildmates, they know what happens when I get "Latin" (no juus no say dat tu me!) on that ass. Of course, what I do to myself is sink to their level (or sometimes well below it) and could be setting myself up for failure. A case in point from a reader: It seems that I have recently been a victim of a "Harassment Ploy". Due to the recent revamping of the ultima harassment policy, there are players out there abusing it and using it for their own purposes. I'm telling you this story just to warn you so it doesn't happen to you. I was playing my newbie thief in Baja, stealing rare fruit out of provisioner's shop in Moonglow. I got caught and was guard whacked. OOoOooOoo. Normal stuff. I then noticed a gut named Dirk scoot over to my dead grey body. OK, so I knew I probably lost my lockpicks and fruit. I went to the healers, waited until I went blue, and got ressed. I went back to where my body was, and Dirk was still there waiting for me. He started taunting me about the rare fruit and picks he took off my body and called me by a few names. Fair enough, I can play that game too. I replied in kind, but with a little worse offensive language. After spouting about five lines of filth at the guy, I was satisfied, and walked away. Dirk kept following me saying that he called a GM on me for my language and that I was going to get banned. I told him that OSI was not going to ban me for telling him where to go and tried to get away form him, asking him to leave me alone. He wouldn't. Eventually I had to run into a moongate to go to another city. I didn't think much of the incident until I opened up my email this morning. I got a message from OSI saying that my account has been suspended for 48 hours for offensive language. They said they would review my account to decide if I am to be banned permanently. I have been playing for 18 months, and have no marks on my account, so I am not expecting to get banned, but I wasn't suspecting to get suspended either. There you go Nieves. That's my story. Be carefull and don't let it happen to you. Druckle. I think that GM should've done some more investigating. Some people need to dig deep and figure out why something happen. Anyway... It's probably just best to leave the area. ::listens to your thoughts with my new Super Psychic Powers:: Yes, I agree, you shouldn't have to leave an area just because of one asshoe. Or, even better, take him/her to Felucca and punk that ass. But what's the point? They are an asshoe and probably know it. Nothing you can say or do would change that fact. Hasta. ^ top-Just To Clarify One More Time [Gator] July 23 - 9:13 AM EDT Melantus (Online Community Coordinator) 06/27/01 09:58 AM Re: It's Official. This is an illegal exploit! [re: jdurga] Using a bug to gain skill is abuse of a bug. If scrolls allow you to gain skillpoints (above 10.0) without consuming the scroll, then that is a bug. If you see this bug, report it to me so that we can get it fixed. However that does not mean you can post about it, how to do it, or use it until we get it fixed. That is the bottom line on this arguement. This issue needs to be closed, as it keeps coming up and I keep saying the same thing about it. Send me what scrolls do this, privately. Melantus Online Community Coordinator Ultima Online Melantus@uo.com Little old, figuring Melantus is gone, but you get the idea. Later ^ top-I've Stood 24 Hour Post Before, But In A Game It's Ridiculous... [Gator] July 23 - 8:27 AM EDT Factions... let's break down the entire concept in fifteen words or less. Get ball. Protect ball for twenty-four hours. Take ball back to city. Control town. Simple as that. But lets pay special attention to one particular item within those fourteen words. "twenty-four" Ok let me ask this question, how many players are in a particular faction. Let's say 50-100. Rough estimate. Now out of those numbers, how many are diehard faction players. Say... 25. Ok, just a second your honor the jury will soon see where I am going with this. Out of those 25, how many of them actually can stay and defend the sigils for a full 24 hour period? I will say, 5. See what I am getting at people. 25 Diehard players stand guard over that puppy as long as they possibly can. And what are they waiting on during that full 24-hour period. They are waiting for the enemy, who in tuen is waiting on the opposition to get at its weakest. The enemy send in their blue spies to take in what is going on at the sigil holders HQ. And when they are at their weakest, that is when they attack. Now I though Factions was all about PvP. That's Player vs. Player combat. Hell right now I am going to change what we call PvP in UO Factions today. If you play Factions, you might as well call it PvT combat. Players vs. Time, because that IS exactly what it is. I have a life folks. I don't sit in the wonderful world of Sosaria 24 hours a day 7 days a week. I have a job, wife, home, car, and friends to all spend time with. Noted, some of those friends do play UO, but nevertheless, I CAN'T sit in front of my l33t PvP machine 24/7. It just can't happen. Now before you say "Well Gator you are just hopping aboard the flame Adrick train." That is hardly the case my friends, I feel that Adrick is doing the best he can with what he has available. The new changes for Patch 13 alone are credible, and needed. What I am saying is that times need to be looked at. Mainly times revolving around three different categories. 1). The sigil may be corrupted at a Faction stronghold by placing it on that Faction's stronghold tile. The sigil must remain on that stronghold tile for at least 24 hours. Way too long. This needs to be tuned down somewhat. Factions were developed for PvP. That means fighting, not standing around at your HQ waiting for the big one to come. And when that big one does come it's at 4am and you're the only defender there. I recommend this time be changed to at the most 12 hours, if not even less. This will develop more action, the attacks will come sooner, and this also provides the opportunity of the attack coming sometime before midnight, when the majority of players, are actually playing, and not counting sheep. 2). Towns are owned for 3 days. Bah, I want to fight not be a damn City mayor. Alot of people do not like this amount of time and want it increased to a week. Personally I could care less. 3). 20 Minute Stat Loss Take the Father of three example. He has a wife, full time job, and grass to cut. Same ole BS every other parent/adult deals with. He has roughly One hour of time he spends in UO each night, and in that time dedicates himself to Factions. He logs in, Gets stocked up, and heads to his HQ. He has only been logged in for 15 minutes, and as soon as he recalls in, gets ganked by an invading party of Minax. 20 Minutes later, he has 20 minutes left to play; and still needs to stock his vendor. See what I am saying, I am ALL ABOUT stat loss in factions. But 20 Minutes is crazy! Make it 5-10 minutes tops. That's enough time to get rezzed and get back to where one can re-supply. It takes about 5-10 minutes to do that anyways. Factions were incorporated in December of last year. And it still has a long way to go. Everyone wants to get all high speed on town ownership, fuck that, we aren't playing SIM City. We want PvP, the changes I have listed above would incorporate that to the utmost. Let's hear what you have to say about the current status of factions in UO. Later ^ top-Cynthe talks to us about duping. [Nieves] July 23 - 12:07 AM EDT Dupe bugs are a tricky subject for us. On one hand, we do want it to be known that we DO investigate and address any dupe bugs that we find. Players who are proven to have used duping exploits are most definitely punished. But when we're investigating a dupe bug, we can't really say anything about it. For one thing, by explaining what is is we're investigating, we encourage other people to go out and try it. If we say that we're fixing it, then all the players who know abot it will go out and use it as much as they can, thinking that they'd better take advantage of it before it's fixed. Aside from a few notifications of mass bannings for use of a widespread exploit, we do not notify players when someone is banned for duping. Doing so would violate the privacy policy we have, where we do not disclose information about players' accounts. People who have any knowledge about duping bugs should send that to uobugs@uo.com, where our QA department can investigate. As for these boards, we don't allow the spreading of unverifed rumors of exploits - and if it the exploit is verified, then you should send your information to uobugs@uo.com so that we can address the problem. Thanks Welp, I guess that's why OSI doesn't talk to us about bugs in general. Oh well. Anyone else notice the typos? And people think my typing is bad. It's cool though. We still love ya Cynthe. Hasta. ^ top-Warlord is hiring. [Nieves] July 22 - 11:40 PM EDT 07/10/2001 Topic: "We need someone to RUN this Bitch." Gameterror is in need of some fresh blood. Is that you? We're NOT new. We've been around before. We had a different face. http://www.uoterror.uoguilds.com . Forget the old shit. I have. This is something different. Its bad ass and it needs BAD ASS dedicated people. This site is about games. ANY games. Shit you play. Shit you like, Shit you don't. You got what it takes? Step the fuck up if you got game. We're not elite, if your good you got a shot. If your not you'll die in flames. Literally. This site is NOT complete. It might never be, but it works. Some people take it for granted. So I am asking this small group of potential or current staff to step on up to the plate... Raise some hell with this site. It looks nice, its not some gay fucking 30 second hand job a blind-folded half dead monkey could whip up with dreamweaver. It took alot of fucking time to do. This could be yours to shoot your mouth off at anything under the sun in style. If you can do a fucking better job then show me. You wanna be in the drivers seat and make something happen? Just fucking speak up. As for you assholes who are onboard yet just getting a free ride your numbers are almost up. Either show some intiative or your fucking off this bitch. ED Note - 6 months. Off and on to finally get it going, but its ours, server, everything. PS - Next time anyone asks for/needs/wants something they *ARE* gonna pay for it so when the 'day' comes and nothing happens its paid for and it AIN'T my problem...... I saw it awhile back...anyway, it's here now. Go show your elite posting skillz. Hasta. ^ top-PvP Thoughts and Ramblings, Weekend Edition [Ian] July 21 - 2:11 PM EDT I feel the need to give my thoughts on the current state of pvp in UO. A dexer tabs and runs, that is all pvp is now. No matter what you say, or what argument you want to use, UO pvp is all about going into war mode and running after whoever they are attacking. Throw all that "skill" or whatever it's called out the window. To me, it doesn't take much skill to hit a bunch of buttons at the right time wether it be for a mage or a dexer. But just following someone in warmode, and dying in 2-3 hits, is just not fun. PvP is not fun anymore. Basically it's just an effort in frustration. People that do it really are not having fun. That is the general consensus I get. As for those that are having fun, you know what they say, simple minds are amused by simple things. Before you use the "If you don't like it leave" argument let me go ahead and tell you that you have the intelligence of a rabid dog's left testicle. Instead of countering a valid point that you have no come back for, you take the cop out, just leave approach. Well, you see I have friends in this game and I enjoy playing a game with them. No other game gives me that and while I am unhappy with the current state of pvp, that doesn't mean I need to leave and not have an opinion just because some of you lack the forsight to see just how dumbed down this game has become and that it is your own idiocy, laziness, and overall lack of intelligence that helps keep it that way. That being said the dumbing down of the game as a whole is not going to change anytime soon, but let's face it, people like Nieves are killing good pvpers, and that's just not right. It takes absolutely no brains whatsoever to run up to someone in warmode. Granted, it doesn't take a lot of brains to hit your mindblast, last target key, but that's what most of us are forced into doing. I hope you don't think for one second I like mindblasting 4x and saying a hail mary that I don't die in 2 hits. Believe me, I don't. Mage pvp is just as much of a joke as Dexing. Ok back to the game as a whole. If OSI wants to dumb down the game for the new player and the Trammies by all means DO IT. That's not the issue, more power to them. Make it so the new player get's anything they want. The majority of the pvp populace doesn't have a problem with any of that. I do however think that if a person decides to PvP in UO, they should be prepared to have to learn a more intricate system. What OSI has always wanted to do with pvp is weed out the dood players, and the griefers, and just the overall immature, ignorant player. Well, guess what you are attracting when pvp is so simple that people like J-dogg, the online thug keeping it real from his mommy's home in the suburbs are able to moderately succeed. If you complicated the system, implemented a faction system that actually means something, has consequences for people who don't interact well with others, then you would have a more sophisticated, well rounded player base. I'm almost sure more people would be attracted to give pvp a try and come out of their Trammel shells if they wouldn't be forced to hear how Ja Rule and the kIlla Posse guild just ownzored their newb1e @zz. Simply put, if you put out a pvp system that any moron can suceed in, well, you're going to attract a lot of morons. Ok I have vented. Message to the folks in Austin. UO is in desperate need of an intricate pvp system. Dbl clk and run is not intricate. All pvp is now is running, and everything is based on connection. The answer doesn't lie in one or 2 changes to spells, or precasting, or special hits, it relies on a pvp system that requires some amount of cooperation between players, some meaning behind it, some reason to log in other than to see how many people one can own with a war hammer and some bandaids. The faction system, I'm sorry to say, is a joke. It was a valiant attempt and I had fun the first 2 weeks, but why should I subject myself to rez killing and stat loss for 20 minutes, and frustration at the lack of teamwork when I can go order/chaos and feel the same way without the stat loss or frustration at not really knowing who was on my side. At least with my guild, I know. If someone on my guild sucks, or is in general a moron, I boot their ass off. Simple. I am not yearning for the old days of UO. I'm just yearning to actually have a pvp experience that is fun, and not frustrating. Granted he was talking about Diablo at the time but it shows you the general attitude because you see unlike my good and most overly sensitive friend Nieves, (who will most likely flame me into the heavens now) I prefer not to just "attack and kill." I need to be challenged, not insulted by simple pvp. If I want simple pvp I can pop the Tekken disk into my playstation. There's another old saying. 6 billion Trammelmen could not care less. ^ top-This house is like new. [Eric] July 20 - 3:30 PM EDT FYI stated: Due to an issue causing permanent buildings to decay, and in order to prevent players on the Chesapeake and West Coast shards from losing homes due to this issue, all houses on these shards have been automatically refreshed today (July 19th CDT). We appreciate your understanding, and apologize for any inconvenience. Checking the status of my greatly worn houses that I had marked, I can confirm that Great Lakes (and most likely the other central shards) have had all houses refreshed. (They were all of "like new" status.) Sucks for anyone camping IDOC houses. :) UPDATE: Here is the official word from OSI: Due to an issue causing permanent buildings to decay, all shards with Publish 12 (Chesapeake, Baja, Sonoma, Napa Valley, and Pacific) were given an automatic housing refresh last night (July 19th), and the affected buildings will be refreshed manually until the issue is addressed. In addition to this, housing decay on all remaining Ultima Online shards has been turned off over the weekend. This means that all homes on these shards will be refreshed to like new status, and will remain so until further notice. We will give at least 24 hours notice before the decay is turned back on, and we will update the patch message to ensure that all players are notified. We apologize for any inconvenience, and urge all players to check the patch messages before logging in to avoid missing important information. Cya later. ^ top-The Results are in!!! BS's SuXXoR!! [Gator] July 20 - 9:51 AM EDT This just in: I play Chessie and am an avid treasure hunter. I can confirm that BS are weaker now, it does take 8-10 to kill and OL whereas it took 2 maybe 3 before. It takes much longer for me to complete level 3and 4 maps but i will gladly trade that for the nerfing of trammel BS-casting newbies :)~~~ Mule Boy Thunter for hire-THB Thanks a bunch Mule Boy. And folks there you have it in a nutshell, BS are offically going down the rubes. As to why, I got this tidbit of info from Whiskers of LS: Hello, I was told by Evocare and Maleki in Orlando that the blade spirits are getting modified so that they will no longer poison. I think they used the same combat script for both and forgot to remove the poisoning code when copying it over to the vortex. Any poisoning by vortexes was not intended and, I am told, will be removed. Also there was a problem with the AI script for blade spirits. The script was too complicated and they were having trouble deciding their next target. They would sit there spinning their wheels and not going after anything. They were sitting there because they were cycling through all the available targets and basicly going should I attack this one, or maybe that one, ooh what about this one, no that one. The idle behavior of the blade spirits was not something they meant to have happen. This is supposed to be getting fixed so that they will actually engage a new target once their primary one is no longer breathing. It has been a while since I used a blade spirit so I am not sure if these changes have been implemented yet. I am glad to see though that the blade spirits are going to stop sitting there doing nothing. It takes so damn long to cast them I want to get my time and mana's worth from them. [RL Name Removed] Whiskers, Mugsy LS And finally Mule Boy had this tidbit of info for Parry: i persoanlly prefer the harpies in covetous...:) GM Parry in 3 or four PHs.... Reminds me of the Pre-UO:R days when hunting down Harpies for parry was the thing to do. Hell I remember dragging them to my friends house so I could fight them for hours, thanks again for that Mike, boy those were the days... Later ^ top-Neverwinter Nights Update for Friday, July 20th [Nieves] July 20 - 9:42 AM EDT From the Bioware Development Forums: Armor and clothing in NWN are the same thing. The only difference is how much protection is offered. Clothing/armor is made up of pieces that may cover you from neck to toe. You decide what each body part will be, from naked up to plate mail. You can change neck, chest, belt, pelvis, shoulders, biceps, forearms, hands, thighs, shins and feet. There are six different areas color you can change with 32 colors or environment maps to choose from. The possible number of combinations boggles the mind. Once made (or edited) in the toolset, the clothing is a single item that must be equipped to be worn. [...] So, as a module designer, you have more or less control over the styles of armor and clothing that are available on your server (however players coming from other servers may bring other suits of clothing/armor with them). Aidan Scanlan Writing & Design Neverwinter Nights BioWare Corp YOU build worlds :) Also: So, basically Rusty, there's nothing technical that would prevent them from putting moving boats into expansions. Oh, did I mention, they were going to have "dwellings" in NwN? Just checking. Thanks to NwN Stratics for that information. While you are at NwN Stratics, check out the Screenshot Gallery. Very very sweet. And they say AO has the best graphics right now. Yah, right, it does. Hasta. ^ top-Patch 12 Review Shall We? [Gator] July 20 - 7:16 AM EDT Well it has already made it to Chessy and the West Coast Servers. But this patch is pretty big, and their are quite a few things involved. So lets review all those nifty changes really quick. Jut to clear it all up, and get everyone on the same sheet of music. Additional Changes to UO Jun 22 2001 3:36PM CST The Third Dawn zoom-in feature will receive the following changes: Update range will automatically be changed in relation to the screen size and zoom factor. For example, if you zoom in really close to your character, your update range will be reduced to a small amount around your character since the other areas are no longer visible. Objects that are out of range will appear as "greyed out" coloring. This will assist players with being able to better drop and pick up objects at the various zoom-in degrees. The lightning spell effect is receiving fixes for Third Dawn players, to make it appear during each use. A change is being added for the Third Dawn appearance of the White Wyrm body type for "legacy" white wyrms. Currently some older white wyrms appear as a regular dragon when using the Third Dawn client. This will be fixed so that now those white wyrms will appear as a white wyrm. Vendor Buy/Sell menus will have been adjusted to work with Localization. A problem with NPC shopkeepers restocking their items has been fixed. Hmm.. let's see. Third Dawn, Third Dawn, Third Dawn, Localization on menus... NPC Shopkeepers restocked... NPC Shopkeepers restocked?!?! Ahh yes, THIS IS THE ONE, THE MOTHER OF ALL UPDATES!! Sorry folks I want my regs more than I do my rewards. Rewards are nice and all, but this change gets my "Best update of the Year Reward Vote". No more dealing with "pack whores" or the like. Ahh yes, Finally I will be able to get my regs with minimal aggravation. Thank you OSI!! "Blue" Players Stuck In The Minax Stronghold Jun 22 2001 2:48PM CST Blue players within the Minax stronghold will be able to become “unstuck” from that location. Some blue players may have possibly logged out inside that stronghold before certain recent changes were put in to restrict blue player entry. This has caused some blue players to become stuck within the location. More funny than anything else... Additional Fixes Apr 9 2001 6:01PM CST Faction messaging has been processed for localization. Technical demands, that the blade spirit and Energy Vortex spells require, have been adjusted so that they are less processor intensive. This gives a server-side performance increase. Bladespirits no longer display a paperdoll when double-clicked. Now this one doesnt sound like much, but from what I have been hearing, well can you say N-E-R-F? Thought you could. Runmors abound that BladeSpirits are now MUCHO weaker than they were strong before. Supposedly it takes 8-10 to kill an Ogre Lord now. Whats that mean? YAY, no more Lord pImP Masterbater Stoics running around!! WHIPPEE!! Not sure how bad EVs were hurt, but I hear they are about as strong as the BS were before. I havent personnaly confirmed this yet though. ******UPDATE****** I have now heard that the used to be tink-tink-tink-tink sound of the BS eliminating its target has been toned WAY down, to the point where you may here a tink every 10-15 seconds. once again unconfirmed because I am at work. If this is the case though, the Parry gain method may be SEVERELY AFFECTED. If you are stuck in this situation and need to GM Parry I recommend the use of many targets. Try the Shame Earth Eles and get about 3 of them beating on you during power hour. It does work, though slower than the BS Method. ******END UPDATE****** Localization Changes Apr 9 2001 9:44AM CST Text information for Anatomy, Arms Lore, and Evaluate Intelligence have been processed for localization. Faction speech triggers have been processed for localization. ummmkay.... Change to Weapon Skill Modification Apr 9 2001 9:42AM CST A correction with how skill modification is displayed has been added. An example of the correction is as follows: Player A has 50.0 “real” archery, that is the skill before any stat modification. Stat modification adjusts the skill to be 50.9, which can be viewed by the player in their skill window (without “show real” checked). Player A then equips a magical bow that grants +20 to archery. The +20 is calculated as being added to the 50.0 (the real skill number) for a total of 70. Stat modifiers are then applied and calculated, for a result of 70.5. As a skill becomes higher, stat modification has less of an effect on the modified skill total. Thus, instead of 70.9 it shows as 70.5. This makes the net gain 19.6 in Player A’s perception, and not 20. This change causes the applied bonus from the weapon or armor to read properly after all modifications are calculated. Thus, the player will see 50.9 + 20 (from the magic bow) as 70.9 and not 70.5 as before the change. Note that the above numbers are just an example of how the change will function for all items that have skill modifiers. Good... Various Fixes and Changes Apr 9 2001 9:40AM CST Ship Tillermen will now understand their voice commands in all supported languages. A bug with house owners being unable to remove co-owners from the house access has been fixed. Previously only the co-owner at the top of the list could be removed.. Players with “Young” status will now properly receive their invitation to Haven.. A sound effects problem with ghosts, specters, and wraiths has been fixed. Problems with the statue enable/disable buttons have been fixed.. A problem with the guildmaster title grant option has been fixed. Guildmasters will no longer appear in the list for granting titles to other members.. Players who are not poisoned will no longer get the “cure” animation and sound effects when trying to drink a cure potion. . Problems with the Magic Answer Ball have been fixed.. Ilshenar creatures of “good” alignment will properly highlight to positive karma players in the same manner other “good” creatures do, with the blue highlight. Players with negative karma will still attract the creature’s aggression, which will then cause the good creature to become grey and attackable to the negative karma player. Sure... Ultima Online Rewards Program Nov 30 2000 3:40PM CST The Ultima Online Rewards program is designed to reward our long-term players for loyalty to the UO community. It is our way of thanking you and showing our appreciation for your long-term support of UO, and for your contribution to making UO the most popular virtual world in existence today. wOOt!!! Unused Character Cleanup May 5 2000 5:41PM CST Character data takes up a great deal of space on the servers. Many players have multiple characters that they do not play (characters made for one-time events, made during their regular shard downtime, etc.). Purging characters that are not being used will result in shorter backups, decreasing shard down time and increasing overall performance. Design Characters are deleted after three months unless: The character has over 75 total stat points. All characters that are over 75 stat points will not be purged by this system. Characters at or below 75 total stat points will need to be "refreshed". Refreshing is defined as logging a character in and then logging out. Logging in a character will reset the three month timer. Warnings In order to warn players, shards on the Shard Selection screen will appear in a different color when characters on that shard are scheduled for a purge. Character names in the login list will then appear in the same color if they have not been logged-in for over 2 months. This will serve as a reminder and also warn the player in case a time-warp results in the "refreshing" of a character not saving. In addition, players will be e-mailed a warning before any character is purged. It is very important that all players update their e-mail address in the Account Management section of the Ultima Online website before this system is introduced into the game. Sure... Thats all of it in a nutshell. So now, when someone at the Tram Brit Bank wants to know what happened in the new patch, you can easily school them with your l33t powerGamEr knowledge. Who loves ya? Eh? And you folks think we don't take of care of you, come on now... Later ^ top-Exploit This BIYOTCH! [Nieves] July 19 - 3:24 PM EDT # of players cheering for the Alt-Tab Hackers: ~350,000 Minus one. Don't fucking cheat when you play a game with me. Don't fucking make it trivial that I work my ass off to get the equipment I have because you can dupe money, or kill things at fifty times the rate I can. Don't fucking play with a hacked Taunt feature so that, even though I spent a month on the auction, I can't possibly out-taunt you. Don't fucking make it so that the actual effort I put into the game is overshadowed by the fact that you can run some goddamn application your 31337 haxor friend told you about while you were going out to recess. Don't fucking do it. I'll cheer for every goddamn banning of you scumsucking assholes there is. And if I can't read my e-mail while I play EverQuest or DAoC because not reading e-mail is going to cut down on the number of you fucks, then take out the e-mail, by all means. And then, in a PvP game, multiply all this by a hundred. Because then, not only am I being fucked over because you trivialize my effort, I'm being fucked over directly as you PK my ass with your l33+ hacks. I can run a Google search as well as you can, you shitheads. But I'm a lot more interested in playing EverQuest, and probably in DAoC, because they require skill. Don't fucking try to take that away from me. You have all the single-player games in the world to hack and enter cheat codes into. The MMORPGs are MINE. Thanks Arcy and Snowspinner. Hasta. ^ top-Taming Saint Michael Style [Sinister_Saint] July 19 - 9:53 AM EDT About The Animal Tamer is one of the most powerful characters in all of Britannia. A Tamer of high skill has the ability to control dangerous beasts and in doing so may wield the power and might of their pets. Advantages The advantage to being a tamer is the ability to tame and own pets. Tamers are very useful for fighting PvM, and can prove to be a very profitable character. A tamer with high taming and animal lore can be a relatively weak character and still be able to kill more dangerous creatures and bring in immense amounts of loot. Disadvantages Animal tamers are generally better suited for PvM than PvP. In PvP characters with taming are at disadvantage if they lose their pet because 200 of their skill points are automatically nullified. Also, tamed pets are easily dealt with in PvP, so tamers tend to be mainly PvM characters. Conclusion Animal tamers make excellent PvM characters but are significantly weaker than a pure mage or a warrior in PvP. Tamers are very time consuming to create, but when finished you are left with one of the most powerful characters in all of Britannia. For the most part, expect to limit your tamer to PvM. Starting Stats and skill 44 strength, 11 intelligence, 10 dexterity (11 intelligence for recall) 50 animal taming, 50 point of your preference (or 49/1 if you want newbie items.) (If you plan on picking up inscription, poisoning, or resist, set 50 points toward that skill) Recommended Stats and Skills GM animal taming, GM animal lore, GM magery, GM evaluating intelligence, GM meditation. These are the main skills to have on your tamer. Then depending on your play style you may choose to pick any 2 skills of your preference. PvP/PvM: wrestling/resist PvM: resist/vet PvM: vet/wrestling PvM: inscription/vet PvM: music/provocation PvP: poisoning/inscription PvP: resist/inscription PvP: Wrestling/inscription PvP: resist/wrestling Above are some or the possible templates that you can use. Before creating your character, try the different templates out on test center to see which you like the best. Character Creation After you have selected your starting skills, it is time to begin training. First of all, for the sake of simplicity, make a new category in your skills list and place the 7 skills of your choice in that box. The 7 skills should consist of the main 5 as well as 2 of your choice. The reason for not picking magery, eval, med, wrestling, lore, or vet is that these skill are fairly easy and cheap to raise in comparison to animal taming, resist, poisoning or inscription. Step 1.) Buy up skills to reach the skill cap. (Make sure to buy up your remaining skills for your template that you didn’t start with. If you selected wrestling for your template then you want to ping-pong your stats to 100str/100dex/25int and GM wrestling first. If you didn’t select wrestling, disregard this. Instead ping-pong your stats to be 100str/100int/25dex. Step 2.) The first skills that you should concentrate on are magery, eval, and med. Med is a fairly easy skill to raise. For a head start on med, stop off at an Inn and buy some liquor bottles from the innkeeper, then stop off at the Mages shop and buy a wizards hat. The higher your intelligence, the faster you will regenerate mana. Drink the liquor while you are moving around getting your character ready. Step 3.) GM your skills in this order: med, magery, eval. It isn’t important to have GM magery and eval to work taming, but having finished your supporting skills makes taming that much easier. Veterinary For those of you that are going to be creating a tamer for PvM, veterinary is a skill that you should definitely consider having on your template. It is much cheaper and more effective to cure and heal your pets with veterinary than it is with magery. Money wise, it is much cheaper to use bandies (made from wool which can be acquired for free by shearing sheep and making cloth; plenty of sheep can be found in delucia.) than it is to heal constantly with regs. There is also the fact that with magery you are limited. You can only heal 50 points of damage with GM magery as long as your mana lasts. With bandies you can get 80 point heals with GM animal lore and GM vet every 4 seconds as long as your bandies last. At 61 animal lore and vet you can begin to cure your pets. (Sadly even at GM lore and vet you can NOT resurrect your fallen pets.) In order to gain skill in veterinary you must attempt to heal injured animals or monsters. From 0-80 get 2 polar bears and have them fight each other. Then just stand by and heal them. After 80 it is best to take 2 polar bears on a boat and vet your animals using 8x8. Sail around healing your polar bears as the fight. When you get a vet gain, stop the boat and 8x8 until the skill run stops. Rinse, repeat. If you find that the gains are slowing in the 70’s, you can begin 8x8 at any time. Once you begin fighting more powerful creatures such as white wyrms and shadow wyrms you will truly be able to appreciate this skill. Beginning taming and animal lore Once you feel that your character is ready and able to begin taming here is what to do. Take nothing but regs and food when you go taming. Armor isn’t necessary for the purposes of this essay as you will see that Reactive armor will protect you from the minimal contact that you will have with aggressive monsters. Necessary supplies 25-50 of each reagent 25-50 fish steaks Fully charged runebook with heavy spawn locations marked for taming. Animal lore Currently there are three ways to gain and GM animal lore. You can either let it raise passively while taming or using veterinary, you can actively lore any and all creatures around you, or you can use the veterinary trick. (Currently this is not considered an exploit by OSI so take advantage of it while it lasts) Passively: Animal lore will continue to rise passively as you attempt to tame creatures. However this method is very slow and can be excruciatingly tedious in higher levels. Actively: Animal lore can be raised actively by using the Animal lore jewel found in the skills scroll. This method is also very slow and can be excruciatingly tedious in higher levels. Veterinary Trick: This method is the easiest way to GM animal lore. To do this you are going to need 2 animals (polar bears are preferred) and several hundred bandies. Make sure that you have the animal lore and veterinary skills marked up. Have both of the polar bears (or whatever animal you choose) guard you and then command them to attack one another. Heal the polar bears using the veterinary skill. As soon as you get a gain in animal lore from healing with vet, stop and lock veterinary. Then continue to heal the polar bear that gave you the gain with bandies and heal the other bear with magery. You should gain animal lore with each attempt at healing. If this stops just open veterinary and try again. This will take you all the way to GM Anima lore. You can find the initial animal lore gain standing in one spot just as well as doing so on a boat. (If in the future this is deemed an exploit by OSI, this will be removed from the essay.) On to Taming: Taming is fairly easy at lower levels. However when you reach higher levels you are going to have to be able to locate and attempt to tame more difficult creatures in order to gain. You can still gain from creatures below your current skill level so by all means tame all creatures around you that are within 15-20 points below your current skill level as well as the creatures that are at your current skill level. Some times a previously tamed creature that is below your current skill gain can net you better gains than a creature that is at your current skill level due to the fact that the creature’s difficulty level is greater after having been tamed and released. For more information on creature taming difficulty levels scroll down and check the Taming Difficulty Chart. Here is a list of what creatures you may begin to tame at different levels: (assuming that some people didn’t start with 50 points in animal taming…) Tamable monsters will be listed in brackets. 00.0 – 25.0: by skill from a NPC Ranger or Animal Trainer. 23.1 – 29.1: Bullfrogs (T2A), Hinds, Timber Wolves. [Slimes – 23.1] 29.1 – 35.1: Boars, Horses, pack Horses, Pack Llama, Rideable Llama (T2A), Desert/Forest Ostards (T2A). [Giant Rats – 29.1] 35.1 – 41.1: Black Bears, Polar Bears, Llamas, Walruses. 41.1 – 45.9: Cougars. 45.9 – 47.1: Brown Bears. 47.1 – 53.1: Alligators. [Giant Scorpions – 47.1] 53.1 – 59.1: Panthers, Snow Leopards, Grey Wolves. 59.1 – 65.1: Grizzly Bears, Great Harts. [Giant Spiders – 59.1, Snakes – 59.1] 65.1 – 71.1: White Wolves. 71.1 – 83.1: Bulls. [Hellcat, small (T2A) - 71.1, Mongbat (strong) – 71.1, Frost Spider (T2A) - 74.7, Ostard (Frenzied)(T2A) – 77.1, Giant Toad (T2A) – 77.1, Lava Lizard (T2A) - 80.7] 83.1 – 85.5: Dire Wolves (aggressive animal) [Imps (T2A) – 83.1] 85.5 – 89.1: No animals [Hell Hounds – 85.5] 89.1 – 93.9: No animals [Hellcats, large (T2A) – 89.1] 93.9 – 95.1: No animals [Dragons – 93.9] 95.1 – 96.3: No animals [Drakes – 95.1, Kirin (Ilshenar) – 95.1, Nightmare (T2A) – 95.1, Unicorns (Ilshenar) – 95.1] 96.3 – 100.0: No animals [White Wyrms – 96.3] Tips and Tricks 1.)You do NOT have to tame monsters in order to gain in higher levels. This is one of the most common misconceptions. I listed the monsters in brackets for those of you that wish to take that route in the quest to GM taming. I know from personal experience that you can Grandmaster Animal Taming from taming nothing but non-aggressive animals. Attempting to tame monsters and aggressive creatures means that you are going to have to be managing your health while trying to gain skill. For instance, if you are trying to tame a dragon, even if you are out of its melee range, it can still attack and damage you with magic and its fire breath, which is based on its remaining hit points. Just remember that if you die in powerhour, you are going to lose a lot of time that could have been spent gaining. I recommend sticking to passive animals. 2.)When attempting to tame in powerhour, do NOT eat. You will gain from fails as well as success. The more you fail the less creatures you have to find to attempt to tame. (I trapped a grizzly bear and gained several points off of it before finally succeeding in taming it.) 3.)When attempting to tame out of power eat, eat, eat. The majority of your gains out of powerhour will come from successful taming attempts. 4.)Animal Taming is a slow and tedious skill so you want to make the most of your powerhour. Always prepare your character ahead of time by having his pack preloaded. I generally carried 50 of each reg, 25 fishsteaks, and a fully charged rune book. Never take anything with you that you don’t want to lose. (leave your keys in the bank) 5.)Mark a rune book to high spawn areas so that you will not have to search for spawn while in powerhour. Places I recommend are: North East of Vesper past the Northern Provisioner*, West of Vesper around Vesper/Minoc Moongate*, North West of Vesper along the road to Minoc just south of east bridge leading to the Southern Mines of Minoc (Peninsula)*, Deluccia, North of Minoc in the forest south of the Minoc plains*, South Vesper beach area*. (Places marked with an “*” are all highly populated with Great harts, bulls, and grizzly bears which will be very useful for gaining skill in higher levels) 6.)Always rename the creatures that you tame. You can NOT gain off of an animal that you have previously tamed. It also helps other tamers know which spawn is fresh and which is not. 7.)Set up a hotkey for the taming skill as well as a last target. This will make taming a lot simpler and will minimize time between attempts. The more attempts you have, the more chances you have of gaining. 8.)If you come across a creature that has been tamed the maximum times possible, kill it. This will only serve to help you and other tamers. When one dies, another one will spawn. 9.)If you have the time and patience, then tame both in and out of powerhour. When taming out of powerhour, attempt to tame creatures that you know that you will succeed with because most of your gains will come from success. 10.)Stay away from Arctic Isle. I will not deny that snow leopards and white wolves give good gains, but from experience I can tell you that it is NOT worth the hassle. The majority of the creatures are tamed to the max and you have to avoid or deal with the orc and frost troll spawn, which wastes time that you should be taming. 11.)If and when you reach to coveted title of Grandmaster Tamer, do NOT become an asshole. Having the ability to wield the strengths of a powerful beast does NOT give you the right to walk in and take over spawns, to steal fame, karma, kills, or loot. Do NOT become a bank sitter. There is nothing more lame than seeing a tamer, whether he be expert, master or Grandmaster, sitting at the bank on his pure black mare, with 4-5 dragons lined up behind him creating lag. You will be joining a very small community of people that carry the title of Grandmaster tamer, so do your utmost to bring honor and prestige to the profession. Miscellaneous tidbits Taming difficulty: When an animal is tamed and then release, or if an already tamed animal suddenly goes wild, its taming difficulty is increased. A creature can be tamed a total of five times, if and only if its taming difficulty does not exceed 100. Below is a chart with a few examples showing the progression of skill needed as the creatures taming difficulty rises. Once the creature’s taming difficulty exceeds 100, you will get a message to the affect that the creatures has had to many owners, etc. Taming Difficulty Chart 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th skill values minimum +4.8 +19.2 +43.2 +76.8 Bullfrog (T2A) 23.1 27.9 42.3 66.3 99.9 llama 35.1 39.9 54.3 78.3 111.9 Wolf, White 65.1 69.6 84.3 108.3 - Wolf, Dire 83.1 87.9 102.3 - - White Wyrm 96.3 101.1 - - - Control ability: You ability to control tamed pets is based on a combination of your skills in both animal taming and animal lore. Your skill in animal taming counts as roughly 70% of your control ability and animal lore counts as roughly 30%. Below is a chart that you can use to estimate your chance of successfully controlling your pets based on your animal taming and animal lore skills. Pet Control Chart Animal Taming Skill Animal Lore Skill Taming Difficulty Chance to control (%) 0 0 100 0% 0 60 100 1% 0 100 100 2% 50 0 100 14% 50 60 100 30% 90 0 100 58% 90 20 100 63% 100 0 100 70% 100 20 100 77% 100 40 100 83% 100 60 100 87% 100 80 100 95% 100 100 100 98% Conclusion In conclusion I will give you a short run down on my quest to Grandmaster Animal Taming. I had always wanted a tamer but I had used all of the character slots on my home shard of Chesapeake, so I was forced to convert my bard into a tamer. Well because I didn’t start my character out as an Animal Tamer I was forced to start from 26ish skill, which I bought from a NPC Animal Trainer in Moonglow. I attempted to tame animals in the order that I have listed them above until I was able to finally tame bulls. From 71.1 skill on I tamed bulls, great harts, and grizzly bears all the way to Grandmaster Animal Taming. That’s right, I tamed pretty much nothing but animals. I made 2-3 trips to arctic isle to break up the monotony, but it turned out to be a gross waste of my time. (See tip #10) I almost never attempted to tame monsters. Unless you have a nice trap spot with a constant spawn then you can expect to spend a good deal of time moving around and healing while attempting to tame aggressive monsters. I am sure that you are asking why you should tame nothing but animals. I Grandmastered Animal Taming in under one month taming mainly bulls, great harts and grizzly bears. Whenever I hit a “wall” I would also tame other creatures in the area. (I gained .3-.4 off of panthers in the high 90’s.) You do NOT have to tame pretamed creatures in order to gain. I gained just as well from fresh animals as I did from pretamed ones. In the high 90’s most of my gains came from taming freshly spawned creatures. As a matter of fact I Gmed taming by gaining .1 each from 2 separate freshly spawned bulls in Deluccia. Obviously you do not have to work taming the same way that I did. You may attempt to tame any creature that you wish according to your play style. If you feel that you have to attempt to tame dragons to gain, that is your choice. I am simply trying to point out that you can gain just as well from creatures that are not hell-bent on roasting you and then eating your spleen. One of the main factors that is going to determine how long it takes you to GM taming is your own determination. Animal taming is a slow and tedious skill. You will hit stretches where you will only gain .1 in a 2-hour session. If you have the time and patience then taming will be a walk in the park. So for those of you aspiring tamers, grab your gear and go make friends with the bulls, great harts and grizzly bears. “Will you be my friend?” ^^ (Some of the charts may not be presented right, but I am sending a copy to Nieves so when he adds this essay to the UOPG page I am sure that he will make them appear correct. Thanks to phazer and and the rest of you guys and gals that posted your feedback so that I could improve my essay. ^ top-Neverwinter Nights [Nieves] July 19 - 9:46 AM EDT A new map utility has been released for the Neverwinter Nights. A quote from the website hosting this utility: The big new feature is Transparent Tile Layering. This makes mapping more powerful... Additionally, another scripting class was released over at NwNVault. Fuck it, I am signing up this weekend. Since Jinx thinks I am cool enough to play on his NwN Server when he gets it set up, maybe, if I get good enough at scripting, he will let me help him with some game coding. Maybe. BTW: Jinx expresses his current frustrations with Anarchy Online. Personally, I don't see myself spending $50 for the initial purchase and 10/month for that game. Even if they fix it, I won't go out and buy the game just on principle. I already play a game that is full of bugs, bad releases, and slow fixes to those bugs and bad releases. Why pay for something else? It's as someone said: It's so depressing to see a game company be this completely blind. All the history they had to learn from, all the other games' problems they could have gleaned knowedge from and they just walked the same fucking path and made the same stupid-ass mistakes. The more and more I read about Never Winter Nights, the more I want to play it. Who cares if it's pushed back to 2002 as long as it's a good game. Well, ok, I don't want to wait another year to play it, but, if it they learn from other companies mistakes and release a solid game, they will break the cycle of poorly released products and put some integrity back into the industry. In the words of a very wise man: "Son pendejos y maricones". Hasta. ^ top-Partying all night... [Eric] July 19 - 12:34 AM EDT ...and barfing in the morning. Look familiar? If you'll look in the top left hand corner of the pic, you will see what appears to be someone throwing up in a "toilet." I came across this tonight on UO, and thought it was a pretty clever creation. (The UO toilet.) Forgive me, I'm easily amused. Goodnight. ^ top-We Were Naive. [Nieves] July 18 - 9:46 PM EDT Well, that's what Ralph Koster says. Hasta. ^ top-I guess all the other updaters are on vacation or something. [Nieves] July 18 - 2:56 PM EDT I was interested in the Battlecruiser Online game. I had checked out the graphics and they looked interesting enough. Granted the publicity they have gotten lately was, to say the least, bad, I wanted to see what all the hype was about. Everyone that I talked to on both sides of the "arguement" agreed that BC:O was a "good game". So, I emailed them to see if I could check it out. How can I get in on a review account?. The game looks cool enough. I would like to check it out and see if it's worth pushing on my site. Hasta. Their reply? Hello Nieves To get a review copy of BCM, please send email to Derek Smart, at dsmart@3000ad.com Best Regards Um...I am sure there is a proper procedure to making this happen, but they couldn't forward this to Mr. Smart? I guess they could give a shit about positive publicity as well. I guess their "attitude" is pervasive throughout their whole "corporation". Hasta. ^ top-Playing "Smart" and my take on the changes as address by Adrick. [Nieves] July 17 - 7:30 PM EDT 23] Faction titles will no longer display in trammel. Good. Now make it so that Trammelites while in the Brit Bank area are targetable by thieves and we alleviate an additional problem. Weak ass bank posers. Note: Although I play in Trammel, I do not consider myself a typical "Trammelite". But, that's IMHO, and we know you all think me a lame PvMer anyway... Moving right along. 25] Faction war horses require rank 2 to ride. Earn it you weak bank posers. 26] Players flagged as aggressors will not be able to use public moongates. Stand and fight you weak motherfreaking gate jumpers. Sometimes I just sit at a Felucca Moongate and watch people fight through it. It's absolutely amazing. One guy had the gall to come back and call others newbies and weak because they couldn't kill him when he was the one jumping through to other gate points. :/ 27] Sigils will not be stealable for 1 hour after a server starts. Cool cool. Give people the time to log on and get started. Thank you Adrick. I think you are moving in the right direction for Factions. Just don't make it the only PvP option available in Ultima Online. Bad call. Bad move. Order/Chaos, Open PvP (PKing), Notoing (although it can suck to be on the "wrong end" some days), Guildwars makes PvP interesting in Ultima Online. UO is the only game that does this at the time. The more options, the better. You can read the rest of what is being implemented in that publish down below in Eric's Post. ::rubs fingers:: I am sure you remember the whole situation with Mr. Smart and the people that aren't happy with him right now. I happened to have gotten copied on every email that was sent in between the parties involved. I think I got someone's attention. I could post all 20 emails, or synopsis of them and show you how idiotic it has become and where it degraded too. But that's a waste of time. I don't know the whole story. I wasn't there. But I do know some facts. Fact: Someone asked Mr. Smart's company about some game issues. Whether they were asked in an appropriate manner or not in the beginning is beyond me. Fact: Mr. Smart said some things that probably shouldn't have been said. I make this statement based on the fact that he's a company representative and it's BAD business to insult current customers. They have friends. And those friends have friends. And those friends have friends that run websites. Eventually, the word gets out and it hurts said company and that's company potential to generate revenue. Fact: A number of people emailing Smart and his associates acted in an inappropriate manner and probably should've done things differently. In fact, I think these "customers" should've reacted in a manner a little lady by the name of Lisa suggested: If I were you guys, I would just give up the "e-mailing him your thoughts and opinions" idea. I tried to reason with him, but I think that he is thoroughly irritated and irritating him even more won't get you anywhere. I suggest that you do the only thing you can do that may or may not work...don't buy his product. However, I don't think sending everyone your negative opinions about him and his product will do you any good either. Negative publicity is still publicity, any way you look at it. If you feel strongly about his attitude and his business ethics, then stay away from him, his product and his company's affiliates and their products. Let others know that you don't like who he is and the company he represents. They obviously could care less about you and your business. However, he is right in the fact that you have been warned to not send your e-mails to him and he has a legal claim of harrassment on anyone who continues to harrass him. If you feel strongly, send the company a letter and post the negative opinions about them on the net and other places people will be able to view them. >~Lisa R. Mauldin Thank you for that insight Lisa. And I agree. Tell Mr. Smart exactly what you think of his game and his company. Quit the game and walk away. I am known for reacting heatedly when I feel I am insulted (yes, I am a sensitive bitch; ask Ian). But I am not a big guy helping run an online gaming company. If I was, I would rage behind your backs, tell you in a "nice" way what I thought, then I would find you in game and silently PK you. I am done with this issue. Everyone that is emailing me can now stop. Hasta. ^ top-One at a time please.... [Eric] July 17 - 3:28 PM EDT Adrick posted these faction changes for patch/publish 13: 1] Faction messaging will be re-enabled. 2] Faction messages increase to 4 per hour. 3] Issues with murder reprieves are addressed (some characters were not getting the reprieve) 4] Minax stronghold will become part of the map -this will address the load times and people being stuck there. 5] Faction vendors will not block players. 6] Sigils will remain at the correct elevation at all times. 7] Sigils cannot be stolen unless you are the same z or lower and have clear line of site. 8] I honor your leadership will work for all faction players. 9] Faction skill loss penalty will affect all skills. 10] If you are quitting a faction and hold an office you will be removed from office. 11] Issues with players not getting a faction robe when joining a faction have been resolved. 12] Issues with players not being able to equip the correct number of faction items have been addressed. 13] Issues with characters being stuck in order and chaos guilds and thus not being allowed to join a faction have been resolved. 14] Faction vendors and guards can be dismissed using a targeting cursor. 15] Issues with warhorses not highlighting the correct color have been addressed. 16] Faction warhorses will not respond to orders from anyone not in their faction. 17] Faction warhorses cannot be transferred or friended to anyone not in their faction. 18] Faction warhorses can only be retamed by someone in their faction. 19] Issues surrounding houses above the yew crypts blocking access to the shadowlord base have been addressed. 20] You can no longer heal a faction guard if you aren’t a member of its faction. 21] Faction guards will call guards if they are attacked by non faction enemies (same faction and blues) 22] An issue allowing young players to join a faction temporarily have been addressed. 23] Faction titles will no longer display in trammel. 24] Faction enemies will hue blue in trammel. 25] Faction war horses require rank 2 to ride. 26] Players flagged as aggressors will not be able to use public moongates. 27] Sigils will not be stealable for 1 hour after a server starts. 28] Issues involving the rules of moving around with sigils have been addressed - meaning the rules governing what you can do while carrying a sigil will work in all cases. 29] Faction warhorses will not be as deadly an offensive weapon in combat. 30] Issues with silver for killing enemy monsters and players have been addressed. 31] Issues with faction traps not giving correct silver to trap placer have been addressed. 32] Issues with faction allied mobs not highlighting and giving silver in all cases are addressed. I'm glad that OSI is working on fixing and changing game elements that need fixing/changing, but why not complete a publish before working on the following one? I just think it's a bit overwhelming to hear about changes to publish 13 when it's beginning to look like publish 12 will take until the end of the year. Well, maybe not that long. Publish 12, which includes the veteran rewards system, is our highest priority, and we hope to see it released to all shards soon. We are looking to roll out Publish 12 to all shards by late next week, but please understand that due to testing considerations and time-sensitive problems that may arise, all schedules may be subject to change. That FYI message was posted yesterday. Let's just hope they for once stick to their word about the date of publishing. When they tell us that the publish is scheduled for Friday, they might as well follow that statement with "We didn't tell you which Friday...muhahahaha... They aren't that evil though, right? Cya later. ^ top-Let's get away from Drama For a Moment [Nieves] July 16 - 6:43 PM EDT From Game Terror: On the morning show at WBAM FM in Chicago, IL they play a game for prizes,usually vacations and such, called "Mate Match." The DJ's ring someone at work and ask if they are married or in a serious relationship. If yes, then this person is asked 3 very personal questions that vary from couple to couple and asked for their significant others name and work phone number. If the significant other answers correctly then they are winners. This particular day (12-9-98) it got interesting: DJ: HEY! This is Edgar on WBAM. Do you know "Mate Match"? *Contestant laughing* Yes I do. DJ: What is your name? First only please. Contestant: Brian DJ: Are you married or what Brian? Brian: Yes. DJ: "Yes"? Does this mean your are married or what? Brian? Brian: *laughing nervously* Yes I am married. DJ: Thank you Brian. OK, now, what is your wife's name? First only please Brian. Brian: Sara. DJ: Is Sara at work Brian? Brian: She is gonna kill me. DJ: Stay with me here Brian! Is she at work? *Brian laughing* Yes she is. DJ: All right then, first question: When was the last time you had sex? Brian: She is gonna kill me. DJ: BRIAN! Stay with me here man. Brian: About 8 O'clock this morning. DJ: Atta boy. *Brian laughing sheepishly* Well. DJ: Number 2: How long did it last? Brian: About 10 minutes. DJ: Wow! You really want that trip huh? No one would ever have said that if it there weren't a trip at stake. Brian: Yeah, it would be really nice. DJ: OK. Final question: Where was it that you had sex at 8 this morning? Brian: (laughing hard) I ummmmm... DJ: This sounds good Brian where was it? Brian: Not that it was all that great just that her mom is staying with us for a couple of weeks and she was taking a shower at the time. DJ: Ooooooh, sneaky boy! Brian: On the kitchen table. DJ: "Not that great"? That is more adventurous than the last hundred times I have done it. Anyway, *to audience* I will put Brian on hold, get his wife's work number and call her up. You listen to this. (Advertisements) DJ: *to audience* Let's call Sara shall we? (touch tones *ringing*) Clerk: Kinko's. DJ: Hey, is Sara around there somewhere? Clerk: This is she. DJ: Sara, this is Edgar with WBAM. I have been speaking with Brian for a couple of hours now. Sara: *laughing* A couple of hours? DJ: Well, a while anyway. He is also on the line with us. Brian knows not to give away any answers or you lose. Soooooooo! Do you know the rules of "Mate Match"? Sara: No DJ: Good. Brian: *laughing* Sara: *laughing* Brian, what the hell are you up to? Brian: *laughing* Just answer his questions honestly OK? Sara: Oh, Brian DJ: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sara I will now ask you 3 questions and if you to answer what Brian has said then the 2 of you are off to Orlando Florida at our expense. This does include tickets to Disney World, Sea World and tickets to see the Orlando Magic play. Get it Sara? home?!?! Sara: *laughing hard* YES, yes. *Brian laughing* DJ: All right, when did you have sex last Sara? Sara: Oh God, Brian...this morning before Brian went to work. DJ: What time? Sara: About 8 I think. *sound effect* DING DING DING DJ: Very good. Next question: How long did it last? Sara: 12,15 minutes maybe. DJ: hhmmmmm. Background voice in studio: That's close enough. I am sure she is trying not to harm his manhood. DJ: Well, we will give you that one. Last question: Where did you do it? Sara: OH MY GOD, BRIAN! You did not tell them did you?!?! Brian: Just tell him honey. DJ: What is bothering you so much Sara? Sara: Well, It's just that my mom is vacationing with us and... DJ: SHE SAW?!?! Sara: BRIAN?!?! Brian: NO, no I didn't... DJ: Ease up there sister. Just messin' with your head. Your answer? Sara: Dear Lord,..I cannot believe you told them this. Brian: Come on honey it's for a trip to Florida. DJ: Let's go Sara we ain't got all day. Where did you do it? Sara: In the ass. (long pause) DJ: We will be right back Thank you White Crow for that laugh. Hasta. ^ top-I CAN SAY WHAT I WANT! [Nieves] July 16 - 3:50 PM EDT Seems that some people within the MMOG industry feel they can say whatever they want to their customer base becuase, you know, they rule, and we don't. In fact, they brag about their "soap box". The guy at The Soapbox sounds intelligent enough. In fact, he's pretty straight forward with his information. Especially giving us inside information on how the PC gaming industry works. That said, let's get to the heart of the matter. First to start it off: I thought that it was necessary to send emails to all you gamng sites out there regarding this manner. After a legitimate email was sent to battleCruiserOnline regarding thier release date. A very unprofessional Derek Smart responded unkindly. After a few emails were sent by other concerned people, myself included. He was responding with alot of hate and anger. Is this the kind of company we want to spend our hard earned dollars on? I mean this is outright wrong. He is saying I am harrasing him, yet all I did was send an email saying that I thought his response was wrong. his response back was to be even more rude. [Name deleted] Note: forwarded message attached. Let's begin shall we? hello everyone,i just thought you all should see how customers get treated when they inquire about the date of their computer game(s) coming out. Valid request. I hope it was done with taste. this is an email from a very close friend of mine who put money down to purchase a new pc game. the date has been pushed back 2 times Which happens. and when she emailed the company to see what the problem is/or to get a refund this is the responce that she got!!!as you will see in this email this isnt a good way to "promote a product" nor get business.its a great way to lose it!!!! Well, let's see what Ms. Kim is talking about here: From: Derek Smart To: "C. West" Subject: Re: BCM Info Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2001 21:21:37 -0400 Hey you! Who me? yeah, you! Doh! your email to corporate got forwarded to me. I'm going to make this simple, so it all sinks in. Pull up a chair... Ok ::grabs a chair:: Would you rather a game that is finished, fully tested and debugged, or one that is rushed to market (as 90% of games today are) because some *idiot* is disgusted that the release date was shifted? Yeah, sure. Save your money. You probably won't have been able to play the game anyway. The average BC player is intelligent, supportive of the people *make* the games they *play* and patient. Wtf!? You have not one iota of those qualities (nor common sense, it would seem) judging from your email below. Keep your money and spend it on Independence War 2. I hear its being released in the US this August. oh, and btw, tell your friends too. Eh? And yes, your deposit is 100% refundable. Go back to the EB link where you pre-ordered and cancel your order from there. While you're at it, DON'T cheat either, make damn SURE you cancel your order!!! because I don't particular want to hear from you again or see you on my website forum area looking for support, hints or tips, once the game is released. pissed in Florida Not the best way to handle Customer Relations now is it? If you think it, that's one thing, but if you want people to buy your game, this isn't the way you take care of your customers. I guarantee you, this guy won't be hired by Cynthe ::winks at Blackheath::. Shall we continue? Someone tries to reason with Mr. Smart At 10:04 AM 7/16/01 -0700, James wrote: Dear Mister Smart, I dont understand how you can work for a legitamite professional gaming company, and reply to potential customers in such a poor fashion. I myself would love to speak to your supervisor regarding this. Wuh oh! SPANKAGE COMETH! There is no need for this unprofessionalism. I agree. You should be ashamed of yourself, FOR SHAME! and your company should be ashamed FOR DOUBLE SHAME! at having such an unprofessional person working for them that is lacking in customer service skills of anykind whatsoever. You can be sure that as a writer for a website and an avid gamer, that these words are not taken lightly, and that I will be posting your unthought and callous responses for other gamers to view. It is this unprofessionalism that give ligitimate gaming companies bad names. Thank you, James [edited out] Good enough. James put his two cents out for Mr. Smart to feel. Maybe Mr. Smart will take it to heart and remember what he's doing here? Maybe. --- Derek Smart wrote: Hey you, jackass!!! Or Maybe Not. Kindly get your spam OUT of my inbox!!!!!!!! Frigging idiots like you think its OK to misuse, abuse and generally distort the general premise of this medium, the Internet. Thats exactly what happens when you let a bunch of maladjusted, anti-social, rude, delinquent, *illiterate*, misfits, anywhere near technology. OUCH. That hurts. They'll abuse it. After sending *two* rude emails to our corporate email address, they'd had enough, which is why they sent it to me. I replied in kind. I don't flying crap if you sent it to God Careful, lightning strikes more than once I hear. himself - take it it up with him, but just keep the **FUCK** Mommy, what does FUCK mean? out of my damn inbox...and take your stupid friends with you. cheers Nice guy eh? But it gets better. Mr. James again tries to reason with Mr. Smart. At 11:09 AM 7/16/2001 -0700, James Miller wrote: Dear Mister Smart, Again you are being very unprofessional with your remarks. I hope you enjoy seeing these comments on the following websites that i will submit too. Places like Lum The mads, Stratics network and others. Not only that, you will be occupying a front page spot on the website I work for. Thank you for being so unprofessional, and to help send bad publicity out for your company. James News Reporter/Reviewer AtlantaOC http://www.atlantaoc.com Think Mr. Miller would change his tune now? I mean, if Lum posts some bad shit about you, you are fucked. Derek Smart wrote: Kindly fuck off! Thank you Welp, I guess his tune is still in an aweful C Flat. Or whatever a bad tune sounds like. Well, personally, there is a better way of handling this. 1) hit delete. 2) Be professional. 3) Ignore it. It's not hard. Really. From : Derek Smart To : James Miller [misc email addresses deleted] Date : Mon, 16 Jul 2001 14:33:17 -0400 Subject : Re: Fwd: BCM Info/Candy's e-mail reply about a complaint Yeah, right whatever. Now go earn your paycheck and get the FUCK out of my inbox!!! ..and while you're at it, I have a "soap box"too and I have your emails Ooh, I am scared. and those of your stupid friends. My friends aren't stoopid! Wanna play? Lets play. WOOHOO! He wants to play. I'm always game for a good laugh. Jackass Seriousely, all joking aside. There is a better way of handling Customer Relations. I think he needs to email Cynthe@uo.com or Melantus (wherever he is) and get a clue about how to handle customers. Me thinks Mr. Smart has a definite personal problem. I wonder what he's going to put in my in box. Stay tuned. You KNOW I will let you know when I get my reply. UPDATE: Boy the internet works fast. First, what I sent: At 01:23 PM 7/16/2001 -0700, you wrote: I just received an email from a very upset person that emailed you. From the series of emails, I am under the impression that you were not happy with this person. May I ask why? And why you answered in such a manner? Hasta, Nieves Owner/Operator UOPOwergamers.com And Mr. Smart said: Hi Hasta The name is Nieves. I'm not sure if this idiot actually sent you the full transcript. He sent SEVERAL rude emails to our corporate account. They got fedup and sent one to me - to which I responded, in kind. In kind eh? He then decided to cc a whole bunch of people on his replies. ...then decided that he was going to spam our email servers (see below) by sending 758 emails to the account. Ack! Not good. In fact, I believe that's illegal right? If you didn't gleam the conversation flow, in case the idiot trimmed the emails, let me know and I will send you the entire transcripts. OH PLEASE DO! Here is that person's latest stunt (re- the email spamming) And as if that wasn't bad enough, I have one of his friends, threatening me with posting rubbish at web sites Rubbish? I no post rubbish! because I told him to fuck off (after having fielding a LOT of garbage emails from idiots I don't even know!!). You will see his email below. cheers I hope he doesn't consider me an idiot. I know you all do...but, he doesn't know me like you, the UOPG Faithful, do! Here is what Mr. Smart is talking about (email bomb) C. West, you're not very bright, are you? I ask you and your friends to STOP spamming my inbox, and you send me a mail bomb? How many do you think actually got through? Didn't you know that, not only is this a felony but is legally actionable?? I suppose you also think that your hotmail account also gives you anonymity? *sheesh* Kiss your account goodbye pal. And just so you know, 5 of the 120 emails you sent to our account, and an entire inbound record, complete with your header info, have been sent to te FBI bureau that deals with this. Don't fuck with the FBI. Trust me. You don't want that. From: "Dick Smart" To: "Dick Smart" Subject: You're a Dick aren't you? Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2001 12:30:09 -0700 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="----=_[edited] X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.50.4522.1200 X-MIMEOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.50.4522.1200 Don't fuck with people so much and you won't be subject to the 1000s of e-mails you're now going to get. Be nice! Dear Mister Smart, Again you are being very unprofessional with your remarks. I hope you enjoy seeing these comments on the following websites that i will submit too. Places like Lum The mads Stratics network and others. Not only that, you will be occupying a front page spot on the website I work for. Thank you for being so unprofessional, and to help send bad publicity out for your company James Miller News Reporter/Reviewer AtlantaOC http://www.atlantaoc.com Notice how somethings were missing from the earlier, similar email? Interesting when you get both sides of the story, isn't it? Or are we getting the full and correct story? And do you really give a shit? I am sure more is forthcoming. Hasta. ^ top-How UO's Live Designer makes his gold... [Eric] July 16 - 3:19 PM EDT I found this to be rather interesting, considering it comes from an OSI employee. He first wrote: Actually, I make most of my character's money from fishing. Roughly half a million a week... :) Following that, he explained further... 1) I manually fished until I got a boat. I semi-automated my fishing in the boat. I've mentioned before that I read books while watching my computer. :) 2) I don't sell my goods directly. I store them up and they're sold off by one of my guildmates. I just see the return value. I can guestimate that the lot goes for roughly 500k for 20 MIB's and assorted other items. That equates to less than 3 MIB's a day for the week. 3) I use magery on one of my fishermen and archery on the other. 4) I fish between Trinsic and Buc's Den, Moonglow and around the ice island, fire island, and west of Skara Brae (the long north/south route). There aren't any tricks. Fishin' is pure luck. If you find a "hot spot", you're just having a lucky streak. :) -Hanse UO Live Designer So you wonder the best way to make gold? This may be one of them. Of course it's fucking boring, but half a million a week is pretty good for some people in this game. Besides, Hanse does it, so why can't you? Cya later. ^ top-Old Rare Respawning? [Nieves] July 16 - 1:22 PM EDT I got an email about a rare respawning. Would someone confirm this for me: You know the item 'a broken chair' right? Right. Ok, well i was listening to some of the rich elite's conversations while hidden in my house using a communications crystal and word through the grapevine is that the chairs are spawning again. Regulary. One person got 7 of them yesterday. I would like to know if this is true or not please. Email me or leave a message in the forum. Hasta. ^ top-Pre UO:R? No. [Nieves] July 16 - 1:04 PM EDT In reply to: ------------------------------------ Make it a pre-uo:r shard ------------------------------------ Let's please put this topic to rest. It is never going to happen because it's not possible for us to revert the code base like that. Krum There you have it. It's not going to happen. You can tell him why it should here. Also, Grenades are in World War II Online. In fact, here are some instructions on how to inspect one: -Press shift-8 to inspect the grenade for less obvious defects. -If a defect is found, you will be alerted. Press shift-E to "Enter" the grenade alert screen so that grenade alerts may be read. Alternate between pressing shift-7 and ctrl-8 relatively quickly to correct the obvious defects, faster for less obvious defects. -If fixing the defect is not possible, you will be alerted to return to the nearest Resource Center where you must turn in the grenade at the flag station by pressing alt-M. -Press ctrl-L to ensure that the fuze is not unscrewed from the body of the grenade. -Press ctrl-L again to visually inspect the safety pin -If the pin appears partially removed, press cltr-l a third time to carefully push it back in place. Note: Any time you monkey with the pin, make sure you're also pressing shift-A to hold the lever securely down. -Press shift-L to visually inspect the grenade for dirt. -If the grenade appears dirty or grimy, press M to engage your damp cloth (this replaces the 'map' key), Press shift-M several times to wipe the grenade. I have no freaking clue whether or not this is what actually has to be done with a grenade in WWIIOnline, but that seems like too much freaking trouble for me. It may be 'seem' realistic, but I was a soldier in the US Army, and we sure as hell didn't worry 'that' much about our grenades. We inspected them when we got them issued to us, then went to the field and threw the bitches. That was it. Hey Vasilius, Gator, did you have check your grenades and clean them when you were going to throw them? Damn. Realism is one thing, but what about game play? Someone at WWIOnline REALLY needs to get a clue about ease of game play. Thanks to Fear for the above information. Hasta. ^ top-Anti Thief Tactics 101 [Nieves] July 16 - 12:27 PM EDT From the UOPG Board: Here's how the magic lock chest thing works; You stick all the items you don't want stolen in it, and cast magic lock on it. Keep it open so you can use items in there if you want. You cannot (when it is locked) put more items in. However, you can use anything in there. To unlock it when you need to add more supplies or whatnot, cast the Unlock spell (3rd circle) on it. That is all there is to it. It is completely thief proof if the contents of the box make it weigh more than 10 stones (10 or under and the whole box can be lifted in one swoop ^^). I keep telling you all, the UOPG forum is where it's at. Hasta. ^ top-Cynthe on harrassment again. [Nieves] July 16 - 9:28 AM EDT Do you call the police if someone flips you off? Probably not. You probably will either leave the area, or you'll try and figure out why the person flipped you the bird, or you'll tell them to leave you alone. If that doesn't work, then maybe you'll call the police. That's the way the harassment system should be used. We ask players to take the first step in solving their situation, whether that's by leaving, talking it out, or asking them to leave you alone. If that doesn't work, then we will do whatever we can to help resolve the situation. In other words, be mature about the situation. Tell them to leave you be or leave the area and if it continues. If it continues, then page a GM. I mean, we are all supposed to be a certain, mature age playing UO anyway. Right? Right. What does Nievesy-Pooh do when someone is harrassing him, you ask? "Could you please stop harrassing me? I really don't like being harrassed". Nine times out of 10, they curse and then leave. Or, I just wait till they die in whatever dungeon we are at, and collect their things. You know, so I can hold them and give it to them later. It's not like I can just kill the offending player's character anyway, because, like, I only play Trammel. I NEVER go to Felucca and kill a tamer that pissed me off, or find someone that offended a guildmate of mine and kick his ass in front of his own guildmates, or put a beating on 6 different players of the same guild, or show some house fighting bitch who the newbie is, or beat off 4 B*C gankers (the best at their craft on GL; ask anyone that plays Great Lakes) and survive to tell the tale (invisibility spell is your friend). Nah, I don't do any of that. Because, like, I am a Trammel Care Bear and I hate the sight of Felucca. Excuse me, but I have to take some stuff from CMG's Cove shop to my Felucca houses. Hasta. ^ top-Tad Bit More Info On Increased Reg Spawn [Gator] July 16 - 9:18 AM EDT First of all let me just go ahead and give a HUGE Thank You to OSI for working on implementing the new Reg Spawn changes and Murder Counts!! Well done folks, finaly you are on a roll, and I am proud off all of you. Now just make 3D Ishn......ar, whatever in the hell it is, playable with 2D and I just might keep my four accounts active. Anyways, on to the changes. I have heard through some good sources that these changes to the Reg Vendors doesn't just stick with them. Now ALL the vendors will work like this. Ingots, Arrows, Boards, you name it ALL will be affected. Which makes sense when you think about it. If they changed the code, it is going to affect every vendor in the game. Old system spawns 10-19-28-37-46... i.e. 10+('spawn cycle' *9) New system spawns 10-17-31-59... i.e. (old amount * 2) - 3 Some more math: # of intervals required for a vendor to reach 999 Old system: 110 [(999-10) / 9 = 109.888... ] New system: 8! [10-17-31-59-115-227-451-899-1795 (capped to 999)] Thanks to Sheesh over at the Stratics Oceania Forum, for providing that info. So what happens now? Not too sure, but alot of folks will pounce at the opportunity to buy Ingots at 8 per vice 10-20. All i know is, things are going to be interesting. Hell the Economy will get intersting after this change... Later ^ top-OH yeah.... [Nieves] July 15 - 10:36 PM EDT At the Final Fantasy Movie they had the Spider-Man Trailor. Go see that trailor. Batman and Superman suck compared to Spider-Man the movie. Update: for all you X-Men Fans. Hasta. ^ top-If it ain't broke... [Nieves] July 15 - 8:36 PM EDT Well, I broke it. Today I spent a few hours going over UOPG's code. It had a shit load of syntax and "formatting" errors. I got them fixed. The site worked great. I then went ahead and instituted it. Looking good right? Then I changed the image so that, you know, we can have a different image of the month (instead of the promised "week"). Well that totally hosed the whole site. If you haven't noticed, I lost the whole bottom 1/2 of the right menu. DMan and I are working on the problem as we speak. Sucks to be me right now. UPDATE: Well, the site is MOSTLY fixed (BLAH BULLSHIT IT'S UGLY ::points to the right::). I will get it fixed later this week. In the mean while, check out The UOPG Online Store I have set up now. Proceeds go to the feeding and education of my children. Really. Thanks to D-Man for helping me fix my fuck up. Now I get to play with all the subpages and fix them this week. That's what I get for being motivated. Hasta. ^ top-Viva Las Vegas [Eric] July 15 - 12:35 PM EDT I'm baaaaack. I'm tired as hell and my wallet has less money than it did when I left, but hey, that's Vegas. All in all, I had a great time. If any of you know who George Carlin is, I saw him live, and he's the funniest comedian I've ever seen. If he's ever in your town, be sure to check him out; it's worth it. Just don't bring the kids. ;) ::shifting gears to UO:: Yesterday Nieves posted about the new murder count status feature...I like this a lot. This is something OSI should have added a long time ago. Sometimes it's hard to keep track of counts, and you can really fuck your character over (perma-red) if you aren't careful. This will hopefully save my char from going red when I don't want him to. As for reg spawn changes, I need to stock-pile more regs, so this is good too. Good job OSI, you're listening to what the players want. (Now just fucking publish these changes already!) Anyways, I'm going to go take a nap. Believe me, I need it. ^ top-Catlyn GM's Blacksmithing [Nieves] July 15 - 9:32 AM EDT I just recently completed blacksmithing for my B&A Mules on Cats. Here is my results. All skills are real skills and not display Skills. Legend H - Power Hour # TS - Time Spent in Minutes FS - Finish Skill IG - Ingots Used M - Mining Level (In Display Skill) H TS Gain FS IG M 1 60 10.2 59.2 1126 80.9 2 60 11.1 70.3 2199 80.9 3 60 8.8 79.1 2222 88.9 4 60 5.5 84.6 2587 88.9 5 60 4.2 88.8 2589 88.9 6 60 3.5 92.3 3210 88.9 7 60 1.8 94.1 2916 90.4 8 60 1.4 95.5 3151 90.8 9 60 2.4 97.9 3441 91.7 10 20 0.3 98.2 1098 91.7 11 85 1.8 100 4294 92.3 Total Ingots to GM - 28833 NOTES : I ran outta of ingots on power hour #10 and only did 20 mins so i didn't count it. If you do, it was 11 Power Hours. I hit a nasty walls around 94.8 or so. I pushed through it, but noticed way less gains in that power hour. I used roughly 3500 ingots on my last power hour and was at 99.8 so i decided to push on and after another 800 or so was GM. If you gm mining first, you would probably come in around 23000 ingots. I would like to Thank Silent Mobieous (spelling?) from the boards. He sent me a great email on gm'ing blacksmithy complete with instructions. I didn't use all the instructions, but I did take what to make at what levels from this email. Here is what I made at these skill levels (display values). I wrote an assist macro to make all 6 of the items listed with a pause in between. I stopped occasionally to eat and smelt. Also, I didn't get the email til I hit 60 so I not sure what I made before that, but that is the easy part anyways. Also, I only did this on PH. Most of these items are fails and i don't think they would work well outside ph til you get near gm. 60-65 made kryss, axe, chain leggings, short spear, female plate, katana 65-70 made short spear, spear, katana, short spear, female plate, spear 70-75 made plate gorget, spear, female plate, spear, plate gorget, katana 75-80 made plate gorget, short spear, plate gloves, female plate, plate gorget, plate gloves 80-85 made plate gorget, plate helm, plate gloves, plate arms, plate gorget, plate gloves 85-90 made plate arms, plate legs, plate helm, plate glovesm plate arms, plate helm 90-95 made Plate arms, plate legs, plate helm, plate legs, plate arms, plate legs 95-97 made Plate Arms, Plate Legs, Plate Helm, Plate Chest, Plate Arms, Plate Legs 97-GM made Plate Chest, Plate Legs, Plate Arms, Plate Chest, Plate Legs, Plate Chest I leave it up to Silent if he wishes to publish the name of individual who figured out this list of what to make. I do not take credit for the list and I am only sharing some info i have recieved. Hasta. ^ top-Well, I guess they DID get away with it. [Nieves] July 15 - 1:26 AM EDT 1) Diablo 2 Expansion Set: Lord of Destruction; Vivendi Universal Publishing - $35 2) Anarchy Online; Funcom - $51 3) The Sims; Electronic Arts - $42 4) The Sims: House Party Expansion Pack; Electronic Arts - $29 5) Baldur's Gate 2: Throne Of Bhaal; Interplay - $31 6) MP Roller Coaster Tycoon; Infogrames Entertainment - $28 7) Diablo 2; Vivendi Universal Publishing - $37 8) The Sims Livin Large Expansion Pack; Electronic Arts - $29 9) Emperor: Battle For Dune; Electronic Arts - $39 10) Black & White; Electronic Arts - $39 That's the top 10 list of titles according to Voodoo Extreme. Did you notice who's number 2? I wonder how long till they fall out of the top 10. Fuckers. Fix your shit! DII: LoD I am not surprised about. Nore am I surprised about D2 selling again. People saw the expansion and hopped on board for D2. Also, Throne of Bhaal is a kick ass game. Any of the Baldur's Gate games kicked ass. Thanks to Reddy for the link. BTW- D2: LoD gets better and better. Now that I am focusing on Wake of Fire and beefing up my weapons and armor, I am starting to do more damage. The problem is, the monsters are also doing ALOT more damage to me. I needs me some serious armor and "bufs". And I refuse to use a shield on my Assassin. That's blasephemy. Oh, and Poison sucks just as bad in Diablo 2 as it does in UO. Poison Mages killed my NPC three times. Asshoes. Hasta. ^ top-Heads Up to you all. [Nieves] July 15 - 1:11 AM EDT Savages have been spotted spawning in the Trinsic Swamps on Trammel Great Lakes. Also, player vendors don't seem to be working properly at this time. We have been waiting for almost 2 hours to talk to a GM (from 55-35-37 in the ques) to discuss how our reg vendor (and all it's regs, gold, and leather/studded leather items) disappeared. Hasta. ^ top-Cynthe on Harrassment [Nieves] July 14 - 8:53 PM EDT Well well well, OSI is clearing up things. I have a new found respect for what Cynthe is doing over at OSI. Here is an excerpt of what she said: For the most part, the policy is unchanged, with the exception of one thing: grief play. In the past, players have been asked to page in for grief play under "Other" instead of "Harassment", since the grief play does not show up in the logs that are reviewed by the Harassment team. However, to make it easier for the players, all harassment, whether physical or verbal, will now be addressed under the Harassment tool. And here is the WHOLE policy on Harrassment in UO. HARASSMENT POLICY AND REPORTING In Ultima Online, our goal is to build a strong community that offers a comfortable atmosphere for all of our players. This means seeing that players have the ability to combat antisocial behavior. Some tools created to achieve this purpose include the "Ignore Player" option and the obscenity filter. The "Ignore Player" option permanently blocks all of an offending player's comments, and you can also choose to block certain offensive words through the UO Obscenity Filter. To access these tools, double left-click on your in-game character to bring up your paperdoll, and left click on the 'Options' button. Should these options not resolve the situation, we also provide a tool to specifically report harassment. The Harassment Tool The harassment tool was created to give players an effective way to combat antisocial behavior in-game. It has been perceived by some, however, as a way to circumvent the GM queue, which serves to diminish its effectiveness at eliminating in-game harassment. In order for the harassment tool to be successful, it's important to see that it's only used in cases of actual harassment. This document should answer most questions about the use of the harassment tool. What is NOT harassment? First we should point out that anything considered a valid play style in Ultima Online is not considered harassment. In other words, player killing and thievery, including res-killing, is not considered harassment. By valid, we mean that there are game mechanics created around these play styles in Felucca, such as stat loss, the thieving skill, bounty systems, murder counts, the existence of guards, etc. Ultima Online is a role-playing game that encourages various play styles, and players should seek ways of protecting themselves against these play styles through game mechanics rather than calling on customer support staff for help in these cases. Note that this does not include player-killing in Trammel. Trammel was created as a safe land where players cannot harm other players, and violating the intended game mechanics in that area is not considered a valid play style. What IS considered harassment? Harassment consists of flagrant misuse and abuse of game mechanics with the intention of distressing and offending other players. So what's a game mechanic? Game mechanics allow players to interact with the world and each other. For example, the ability to block a doorway is a game mechanic. The ability to create macros with large amounts of text is a game mechanic. Use of game mechanics like these is by no means considered harassment in and of itself. The key to determining whether the mechanic is being misused or abused is to determine "intent". What was the person trying to achieve through their actions? Were they purposefully trying to disrupt someone else's game? While an action may cause others distress, it is not considered harassment until it is determined by OSI/EA that it was done to intentionally cause distress or to offend other players. Also considered as harassment is any behavior that is incessant, inescapable, derogatory and directed specifically at you or your group. This includes the act of intentionally targeting and disrupting player events, which is never considered acceptable. An important point to note regarding this type of harassment is that a genuine attempt to alleviate the situation must have been made. This could be an attempt to leave the area or the offending player, or simply the act of asking them politely to stop. If a sincere attempt has been made to solve the problem and the offending player persists in the harassing behavior, it can be considered harassment, and the harassment tool should be used at this time. For more information, see How do I report harassment below. Behavior that is always considered harassment includes derogatory and/or hateful comments that are sexual, racist, religious, or related to gender or creed. Origin has a zero tolerance policy towards harassment of this kind, as stated in our Terms of Service, and violation of the above can result in immediate and permanent account suspension on the first offense. So what happens when the harassment tool is used? When a player uses the harassment function, GMs are automatically sent an account of the incident through email, providing them with a log detailing the recent text in the area. The player does not need to do anything further, and the GMs will make the determination once they access the sent logs as to whether the case of harassment can be proven as valid. While this also places a call summoning a GM to witness the scene, you may not see any outward sign of a GM appearing or speaking, since the harassment process is kept separate from most service calls, and any information gathered on the scene by the GMs may be used along with the logs in determining the action taken on the harassment call. To be fair in our judgments, it's necessary that we either witness the harassment in person, or that we can prove intent through the log sent by the harassment tool. Since screenshots and journals can be altered, we cannot accept those as proof of harassment. As a way for us to keep track of all harassment calls, records are kept on the accounts of all parties involved when the harassment tool is used, detailing the results of our investigation. What are the possible outcomes of a harassment page? Valid Harassment The call is considered valid when, either through the text logs or through the eyewitness account of a GM, it can be proven that the player was harassed. A mark is made on the account of the offending player, and appropriate discipline is decided on a case-by-case basis depending on the severity of the offense and presence or absence of previous marks on the account. See Penalties for harassment below. Since we are not at liberty to discuss players' accounts publicly, players who submit valid harassment logs will not be notified when action is taken against the offending player. Physical Harassment Physical harassment, or grief play, is harassment that distresses or aggravates other players, and consists solely of actions, rather than speech or text. Physical harassment must be witnessed by a GM to be judged as valid. If the harassment call is received after the grief play is no longer occurring, we cannot verify the validity of the call. No Harassment Found It is determined that the person submitting the call had reason to believe they were being harassed, but upon review, we have determined that the situation either did not qualify as harassment, or the harassment cannot be proven by the included log file. Neither the player submitting the harassment call, nor the player accused of harassment is disciplined in these cases. Invalid Harassment Any use of the harassment tool that is not at all related to harassment, or is simply an attempt to get ahead in the GM queue, will be considered Invalid Harassment. We understand that even these calls can be the result of unintentional mistakes, and we will generally allow players a free instance or two without punishment. If the tool is being consistently and blatantly misused, it is possible that the player submitting the logs will receive a warning or temporary suspension. Mutual Harassment When evaluating harassment calls, we do look for provocation and instigation. Provoking another player into saying or doing something that violates the Rules of Conduct can result in the call being judged as Mutual Harassment. This includes any instance where both players are determined to be harassing each other, such as retaliation after being murdered, shouting matches, etc. These calls are judged on a case-by-case basis, and depending on the circumstances, either all, one, or none of the participants will be disciplined. What are the penalties for harassment? Origin condemns all forms of harassment in Ultima Online, and this type of disruptive behavior will not be tolerated. Harassment is a severe offense in UO and a clear violation of the Rules of Conduct and Terms of Service. A judgment of valid harassment can result in penalties placed on the harassing party up to and including immediate account closure, based on the severity of harassment and the player's past account history. How do I report harassment? To report harassment, double-left click on your in-game character to bring up your character's paperdoll, then left click on the 'Help' button. On the next screen, you will be given a brief description of the harassment logging feature, and a brief description of our harassment policies as they relate to the Terms of Service. If you would like to continue your harassment complaint after validating your situation against these guidelines, check the box that says "Yes - I want to send a harassment log to the GMs". You will then be asked to enter a short description of the problem. Be sure to include the name of the person you are reporting, and the reason for your complaint! This makes it much easier for the GMs or those reviewing the logs to quickly identify the problem. A log of your journal will be sent, and a GM will be summoned to your location to intervene if necessary. The log will then be reviewed by our service department as soon as possible, and appropriate action will be taken. If you make a mistake and wish to cancel your help request, you have the option to change your help request before your log is sent. Just choose "No - I meant to choose help for another matter", or "Cancel - I need no help at this time". ORIGIN understands the seriousness of harassment and appreciates players' support of these policies. Pay special attention to this paragraph: Harassment consists of flagrant misuse and abuse of game mechanics with the intention of distressing and offending other players. So what's a game mechanic? Game mechanics allow players to interact with the world and each other. For example, the ability to block a doorway is a game mechanic. The ability to create macros with large amounts of text is a game mechanic. Use of game mechanics like these is by no means considered harassment in and of itself. The key to determining whether the mechanic is being misused or abused is to determine "intent". What was the person trying to achieve through their actions? Were they purposefully trying to disrupt someone else's game? While an action may cause others distress, it is not considered harassment until it is determined by OSI/EA that it was done to intentionally cause distress or to offend other players. Using exploits/bugs is a form of harrassment now. Guess what that means? I wuv you Cynthe. Thank you for clearing something up. You think she would marry me? Anyway...I hightly recommend reading the original article on Stratics. It's extremely insightful. Reg Spawn and Murder Counts: First: According to our own boards you can now see how much and especially what type of murder counts you have. Try "I must consider my sins" and see how much Short, Long and Ping-Pong counts you have. Kick fucking ass. ::logs on to consider some sins:: Second: Believing some posts at the uo.com-boards now we have brand new reg spawn with 400 to 999 regs every 10 to 15 minutes on the reg vendors. Double Kick Fucking Ass. No more trying to find regs now. And no more fighting folks for regs anymore. Per Crazy Joe, it's active on the Chesapeake Shard. Somethings just make sense. Last month Precasting, this month better reg spawn and actual count detail when you consider your sins. OSI is just getting better and better. Ok, I am off to bank my check. ::waves the check signed by Calyndryll:: Hasta. ^ top-Because Chopper Loves us, and Final Fantasy: TSW [Nieves] July 13 - 9:36 PM EDT From the master of UO himself Back to the point of the post: 1) Do not cast archprotect on anyone in town that asks you to do so. 2) If when selling a house the buyer asks you to redo the transfer the house option when a window is already open DO NOT DO SO! 3) Don't do any trades involving a pack horse 4) If you notice magic-casting monsters dumping their mana on you at an alarming rate, recall out of there.. You have been warned. And I went to see Final Fantasy: TSW tonight. The animation was fantastic. Those animators did a wonderful job. If you want to see the newest technology for animated film, go see this movie. If you want to see a well played out plot, go see Kiss of The Dragon. Seriousely. What was the audience's impression at the end? Some people laughed. And it wasn't a funny moment. My final impression: wow, cool effects, but sucky application of certain "warm" moments. Why where they sucky? They didn't quite get the facial expressions right. They tried. And damn, I thought I was seeing "real life" shit in some cases, but the "tender moments" didn't come off well enough. Definately a rental...and not from Block Buster. Wait till it's on the 2 day "special" wall at your local video store. Hasta. ^ top-Why I hate Exploiters/Hackers/Cheaters [Nieves] July 13 - 2:57 PM EDT Although I have amicable relationships with the owners of different sites that post Ultima Online Bugs and Exploits, I hate Cheaters with a passion. Not too mention, my treatment of bugs and exploits within the UOPG Forum is legendary. In fact, I had to jump up and down and cry like a little 5 year old bitch to get certain pieces of information removed from the UOPG forum by the powers that be. (Thank you again Ramirez). I don't tolerate it. I never will. What's the point in putting yourself in a position to get banned? What's the point in beating someone with a hack that gives you an unfair advantage. You didn't win it fairly and, to me, that means you suck. Saying you "owned them" after you used that hack just makes you a lame and weak bitch. Yes, nothing is fair in love and war, but, when breaking the mechanics of a GAME, you have gone beyond what the game is supposed to be about. There are many ways to win an in game war, hacking isn't the 'best' one. One day, Gaming companies will go the way of Software Development firms with their own software. Hack it, get caught, and get fined and/or do time. Fuck with Microsoft's stuff and watch what happens. And, finally, Eldin of Lum The Mad said it best: These guilds are no longer playing [the game]. They are involving themselves in hacker wars. The in-game battle is secondary to battle occurring outside [of the game world]. The fact the integrity of the very game they fight over is a possible casualty of their damaging behavior seems immaterial to them. They do not love the game, and they care nothing for it. They exist merely to indulge their own egos. If sacrificing the game and the integrity of the virtual world on the altar of smug, self-satisfaction is what needs to happen to sate their lust for grief and "ownage," then so be it. These players are not only the enemies of dev teams everywhere. They are our enemies. They threaten our virtual worlds. They threaten our gaming experience. We must remain vigilant against them. I still talk to those that run the websites that produce the exploit information. In fact, I respect their right to run those sites. But they respect my right not to have it in UOPowergamers or it's forums. Note: I modified (the text within the [] ) the above text only to emphasize my point. The original post can be found here. Hasta. ^ top-Anarchy Online Sucks. [Nieves] July 13 - 12:57 PM EDT FunCom really fucked it up. They did an aweful job releasing this game. And it's aweful how they think they can get away with this shit. The funny part is, they probably will. Hasta. ^ top-Human Ingenuity Continues to Amaze me. [Nieves] July 13 - 12:24 PM EDT Want to rate someone on their Suck Level in UO? Now you can. Go tell the world that guy that fucked with you in Deciet is a Bad Gamer. Hasta. ^ top-Time for the 9:00 news... [Sinister_Saint] July 13 - 7:56 AM EDT Well the first news of the day, I FINALLY GMED HIDING!!! That is right. After only .5 gain in roughly 5 hours, which I might add I lost when the Chessy server was reverted, I logged in again for my 6th hour and hit 2 runs totaling 1.8 to GM hiding. The first run netted .5 and the second run took me home. The second run was interesting. I created a macro that went as follows: use skill/cast spell (hiding) pause 2000 speak (forward one) pause 1000 ( I had the "forward one, pause 1000 8 times) and proceeded to run this macro while sailing the high seas. Well I landed my first gain and then the macro carried me through to the next gain, and the next, and then right up to a boat parked in the MIDDLE of the ocean. I had to do some creative 8x8ing in order to maximize the run. First of all I had to walk to the very front of my boat to get the next 8th tile, I then sailed to the left and creeped along next to the boat blocking my run. When I had gone 8 forward, I opened my gankplank to get closer and actually got the gain. I then worked my way forward and back to my original track where I managed to finish up the run. Finally a GM rogue. It was a pain in the ass but I must say that my hiding ability saved my ass last night. For some reason or another, the mask of orcish kin healing problem hasn't been fixed yet so while I was in the middle of meleeing 3 savages my healing decided NOT to work. With 5 Hitpoints and very little stamina left I managed to run my alotted 8 tiles and hide. My loot for my 10 minutes of killing savages was a gold and a light blue tribal mask. After getting my ass handed to me by the savages due to my inability to heal I decided that I would work my magery a wee bit. I know that my powerhour was up, but hey with 30ish magery I figured it wouldn't be hard to gain. I didn't have enough int to start casting flamestrike or earthquake so I started with incognito and then moved on to invisibility. As soon as I got up to 40 int I started with flamestrike. Starting from roughly 32 magery I worked out of powerhour and finished the night with 60.1 magery. :D In other news: Savage Special Attack Confirmation from Calandryll (UO Desiginer, Ongoing Content) that savages have a special attack when mounted on ridgebacks on the official UO Boards : Regarding the ridgebacks... Actually, when mounted, the savage riders perform a special stomp attack that damages everyone near them and knocks them down. Once they got knocked off, they can't do the special attack. I wonder if the ridgebacks will retain this attack when players that are riding them attack others. I considered going out and seeing if I could tame one, but I didn't know where to find em and I had other things on my mind...like GMing hiding. For some pics of the new dungeon check this out: CLICK ME FOR DUNGEON PICS That is all for the top of the hour, stay tuned for the 12o'clock news with...Sinister Saint. (I need sleep.) :D ^ top-"Thank you for ruining my night" [Gator] July 13 - 7:01 AM EDT Recently I decided to join all that is to be on Catskills with the new "Bolts and Arrows" guild started up by our forums members. Thats right folks, Gator is in town, aka. "Dirty Harry" so give him some love. Anyways, the guild needs a few resource gatherers so I decided to step into the mix and volunteer my l33t 3qU1p/\/\3nT skillz. Anyways, making a resource getter is fairly easy in my book. Here is a great template that can cover the three "main" resources. That is Ingots, Cloth, Leather, and Wood. GM Lumberjack GM Swords GM Tactics GM Anatomy GM Healing GM Mining 50/50 Magery/Resist This character can do his thing anywhere, and works quite well. So I make this new character in Jhelom, get her some basic starting equipment and head straight to the pits to get to work. As soon as I get there, things look fantastic, I got the whole pit to myself. So I pick out a Shield Weilding Warrior to take my hits on. Everything is going well, skills shooting up like crazy. In steps "Esmerelda", or how ever in the hell you spell it. She, and I use the term "she" loosly because alot of folks play female chars, hell even I do. Anywho, she trots up to where I am at, weilding a katana and a buckler. Then starts whacking on my warrior. So I say "There are plenty of warriors to go around", she says "I know but my str and healing are low, lol". ::blood boiling level increases by .2%:: Of course then she proceeds to beat the hell out of the warrior and of course kill it. I say "::sigh::". ::blood boiling level increases by .2%:: After standing there for a bit, and with her saying nothing, I make the comment of "I would like to thank you for ruining my night" she chums in with a "np lol". ::blood boiling level increases by .2%:: ::Boil Boiling is now at 100%:: Two can play this little game. I run off to the end, and log in "Dirty Harry" and make my way to the pits to take care of some business. Of course this is Trammel, so "Esmerelda" will not be dying today, not by my hand at least. But I have now dedicated the next full hour of my time to follow her around and ensure that not one warrior she melees stands. I get to the pit, and still find her there, and proceed to whack everything out of existence that she touches. The only time I didnt was when she went after an NPC that two other chars were beating on. Much to their dismay and crys of "Please stop" and "Dont do that" she killed it anyway. Then proceeded to ask if they had any aids she could use. This is the part that gets me.... They gave her some?!?!? Still I haunt and ghost her every move. With GM Swords, Tac, 95ish Anat and 95 Dex with a GM Katana, NPCs dont last too long. Finnaly she chimes in "Why are you following me?" I say "You ruined my night, now I am going to ruin yours". She says "lol, you are not going to ruin my night". Right after that her horse goes wild, I let loose a "keke" and proceed to take out her now wild horse. Needless to say, Mr. Ed didnt last long, and soon I was serving up Horse a la mode in the Pits. She let loose a "lol, I will just tame another" I didnt say it, but I wanted to say go figure, a twink with a tamer. She soon realized that she was not going to get any skill work done with me around, so she proceeded to leave. Of course Gator is smarter than your average bear, and I hang around. After a few minutes I leave the pit and head east. Where she runs past me, then she weaves to the west past the pit. She was obviously trying to loose me, or she was looking for some hatchets at the tinker shop. She was a LJ. I walk around a pit and find her back in the pit. For some reason she was hiding in the corner like I couldnt see her. Its called All Names, try it sometime. After I guess she thought I had left she came back into the pit. But now, the pit had gotten a little busier. And one LJ was there sparring a warrior. She asked him for a hatchet and he gave her one. Then she proceeded to whack on his warrior while asking for bandaids. A new character walks up to them and asks if he could peekay there, and of course they start ragging the shit out of him calling him a newb and all this other trash. I calmly walk up to "Esmerelda" and say, "Esmerelda, who you calling a newbie?" As in dont call the fucking kettle black bitch!! Esmerelda, I have it out for you. Wherever you go whatever you do. I am going to make sure that I totally ruin whatever you may be doing. For awhile in UO I was wondering what my mission would be. Now I know I am going to stalk you and terrorize you wherever you may go. Ok I am done ranting now, but that shit ticked me off. Anyways, B&A I ahppy to join up with you folks, though you may not see me often, I stay quite busy, so I will hang with you folks whenever I can. As far as Esmerelda goes, was I wrong? Later ^ top-The orc scenario has ended... [Sinister_Saint] July 12 - 12:42 PM EDT Calandryll About The Orc-Scenario Calandryll made two interresting postings about the current scenario over at the uo.com-boards, here is the first one: 1) The town defense in Trinsic lasted several days and the finale was many hours long, thus insuring massive numbers of players participated. (I understand massive numbers means lag, but I think you wanted massive numbers, right?) --But the fall of Trinsic was not dynamic which was it's biggest fault. I do agree that the ending needs to last longer, or at least, start during prime-time hours. 2) Trinsic had Juo'nar and other human-controlled chars who could react wth "real" intellgence. On that front, assuimg OSI legal would let you do it, I'd bet there is a whole army of ex- (and new) Interest Vols who would jump at the chance to play a "one night stand" as a player-controlled NPC in your scenario finales. Without meaning to be critical, I think we all can agree that no AI-NPC will ever be able to replicate the fights peeps had in Trinsic with Juo'nar. Slaying massive amounts of spawn will just never stack up against taking on a "real" person dressed in superman gear! --Can't have volunteers. Beyond that, we do have other ideas. That said, I don't really see how human conteolled monsters has an affect on the outcome issues. -Jonathan "Calandryll" Hanna Designer, Ongoing Content The second posting is contains some information about the length of the scenario and the final battle: The scenario ended too soon, (although many of the towns were still being attacked last night during prime-time) but we already hard at work on the next one and will take the learning from this one with us. The dynamic ending was probably hyped too much by me, something I am usually better at managing. That said, there was far more to this than that ending, which was only one part of the scenario as a whole. Thanks to all of those for the positive comments, much appreciated. For those with negative comments, please do us a favor and post some feedback, rather than just say "it was bad". Can't improve anything without feedback. We'd love to see what people liked and disliked about the scenario, not just one or the other. :) -Jonathan "Calandryll" Hanna Designer, Ongoing Content ^ top-More Orc News [Nieves] July 12 - 10:22 AM EDT Great, now that the game seems boring to me, they add new content. If they would just fix the UO3D client, I would be able to enjoy the game more. Oh well. Anyway, thank you to Heather of CMG for the pictures. BTW: Did you all know Myschyf of Lum The Mad plays Great Lakes? I got to find that "grrl" and say hey one day. Hasta. ^ top-Lion, and Tigers and Orcs oh my! [Sinister_Saint] July 12 - 7:58 AM EDT Savage and Orc News (Spoilers) Just a quick post to let everyone know that we have been receiving many reports of changes in the world of Britannia this morning. Of note are that several cities are being invaded by all new Savages, including magical ones (so-called Shamans) and some even riding on new beasts called Ridgebacks. On the other side of the battle we've also received reports of the Orcs building a new cave south of Yew. We are working on a full detailed report on both occurances and should have it out to you soon. Make sure to keep an eye out on our Quest and Events News as we put it all together for you. Orc Brutes and Mounted Savages Here is some info pulled from stratics and tradespot that might interest you. Apparently there are several new creatures in the game. There is the orc brute, the mounted savage, the Savage shaman, the savage ridgeback and god only knows what else. Hit the link and it will take you to tradespot where you can check out some pics of all of the new creatures. For more info head over to UOPG and check out the threads on Mounted Savages and Orc Brutes. ^ top-EBay is the Devil. [Nieves] July 11 - 6:58 PM EDT And here is the proof. It's one thing to pay money for houses and stuff in UO...but Diablo II? C'mon!? Where does it freaking end? People, think about this. If you got that kind of money, go buy some art or Egyptian Artifacts or something. But don't freaking spend money on virtual items. When the plug is pulled and the server no longer works, it's GONE. And so is your money. Not to mention the fact that in a game like Diablo, it's not a "perpetual world". Remember, all your stuff from Diablo I didn't transfer over. What happens if they do the same for Diablo II? If you want a good cause for your money, send it to me so I can feed the kids. Take home is 305/week and I put out 130/week in day care. You do the math. Thank you Redrum for the link. Hasta. ^ top-New mounted savages and orc brutes [Sinister_Saint] July 11 - 3:24 PM EDT For those of you following the current scenario involving the orcs and the savages there is some new information available about new creatures in the game. The Mounted Savages is simply a savage riding an osty in the 2D client and some new creature in 3D. So far they give the same loot as regular savages with the addition of a "Savage Spear." The "ostard" that the mounted savage is riding is actually called a "ridgeback" and can be tamed and ridden. The other new creature would be the Orc Brute. Apparently this is a huge creature in the 3D client but appears to be a regular orc in 2D with a new name. For further information and pics of both new creatures in 2D and 3D clients hop over to the UOPG forum and check the threads on Mounted Savages and Orc Brutes. Thanks guys. There Nievesy-poo, ya happy???? :D ^ top-HoC From NWN on July 5th [Vasilias] July 11 - 12:52 PM EDT July 5th NeverWinterNights House of Commons IRC chat was the place to be. Was I there? You betcha...only problem chanserv decide to screw the pooch and I, having no patience decided not to sit around an wait. However, for those of you interested in the development of the game and the progress it is making as well as a few idea's that were addressed at this lil chat I am providing a link to the chatlog for you to take a gander at. NWN HoC Chat. Hope ya enjoy and see ya all on the flipside. Vas ^ top-Tamers and Ridgebacks. [Nieves] July 11 - 12:51 PM EDT Yes, they require high taming to tame, but no taming to own/ride. -Jonathan "Calandryll" Hanna Designer, Ongoing Content Nice. Another thing Twinks can ride just so they can look "cool". Know what is cool? Veteran Rewards being released. BRING BACK VET REWARDS BIYOTCHES!™ Hasta. ^ top-Now I know where Great Bob went off too. [Nieves] July 11 - 10:59 AM EDT He went to the dark side....and he's having the time of his life. Read it and worship the Great One. Hasta. ^ top-The White Crow Has Landed. [Nieves] July 11 - 9:48 AM EDT Too bad the White Crow didn't join up with us. He's a great writer and his UO knowledge rivals any of us here at UOPG. He's made some changes and additions to the site. The best part is getting off that annoying porn server that kept setting itself up as my home page. I can't have that shit with my little guys running around. Anyway, give White Crow some love. White Crow also writes for Game Terror. I don't know what Hungry Gerbils have anything to do with gaming, but he talks about them. Go give Game Terror some love, too. While you are visiting Game Terror, tell Watts and Warlod to kiss and make up. Those two know they love each other and should get off their rags and start kicking ass over there for us. If you give them enough Love, maybe they will feel it and start giving us some love back with some kick ass gaming updates. I wonder if White Crow will let me take some of his Thieving Information and put pieces of it here on UOPG? If UOPG lacks anything, it's thieving information. Maybe, I should just steal it, huh? Hasta. ^ top-I'm out. [Eric] July 11 - 7:53 AM EDT I just wanted to make notice that I will be absent for a few days (if anyone should happen to care), as I will be vacationing in Las Vegas. Will I gamble away a lot of hard-earned money? There's no doubt that I will. :p Will I enjoy going broke? Hell yes. And on a totally unrelated note, be careful when redeeding a house to place or replace a larger house. There are assoles in this game. Last night I placed a small marble at a falling sandstone (which was next to a mountain, by the way). This morning I went to redeed it and place a sandstone, and some asshole stuck a house in the spot before I could place mine. And yes, I checked ahead of time to make sure no one was around. There's 2 million gold I'll never see. And before I go, here's a good laugh for you. Now, I understand there have been people who have met in game, then in RL, and have lived happily ever after, but this is crazy. Cya later...because I need a damn vacation. ^ top-Clarifications on orc masks and tribal paint [Sinister_Saint] July 11 - 7:06 AM EDT FYI - Orc Masks and Savage Paint Posted on the FYI Section of the official UO Site : Many players have been asking about the new masks of orcish kin and the savage tribal paint and how they work. While most players have figured out the mask will explode if you attack an orc and the paint will burn if you attack a savage, there are many other interactions that are designed into these masks. In order to clear up some confusion, the list below should clarify some of these interactions. Note the examples are all in reference to the mask of orcish kin and orcs, but they all hold true for tribal paint and savages as well. If your pet, hireling, or summoned creature attacks or is attacked by an orc while you are wearing a mask of orcish kin, the orc mask will explode. Note this is the case even if your pet auto-defends. If you provoke two creatures onto each other and an orc attacks one of those creatures while you are wearing a mask of orcish kin, the mask will explode. The system sees you as the controller of the creature you provoked and hence, the mask will explode if an orc attacks or is attacked by it, even if you are no longer in the area. If you attack an orc and kill it and then put on the mask of orcish kin the mask will explode because you still have that orc in your aggressor list. After attacking an orc (even if you never hit it and it never hits you) wait a while before putting on an orc mask. You cannot wear a mask of orcish kin and savage paint at the same time. The orc masks and the savage paint are powerful items, but with that power comes danger. It is wise to use caution when donning either of these items. BAH! exploding disguises...at least they still make good house decorations. ^ top-Kiss of the Dragon [Nieves] July 10 - 11:58 PM EDT GO SEE THE FUCKING THING! It was amazing. If you have seen Fist of Fury, you will not be disappointed with some of the "nostalgic" scenes. I am telling you, it's a good movie. It was funny seeing Bridget Fonda as a hooker and...well, you will see. Jet Li freaking rocks. Even for a 38 year old man and father of 3 kids (yep, you heard that right), he's can still kick ass. And, like Chow Yun Fat, he can act. Not the caliber of a John Malkovich (sp?), but damn, he does have some talent. Fucking Hollywood could've made a Crouching Tiger/Hidden Dragon of their own if they would fucking quit dragging their ass about him. Trivia: Did you know Jet Li turned Chow Yung Fat's part down to be with his Wife and newborn child? He's a man of principle. He kept his promise to his wife. Got to admire that. Did you also know he turned down parts in the Matrix 2 and 3? Pay that man his due (13 million). He's worth it. The Matrix 2 and 3 will make it back...and then some. Oh, and to Keanu Reeves, Jet Li REALLY knows Kung Fu. Thank you to Troy, Joyce, and his crew of guys for going with me to see KoD on my birthday. Yeap, it was my birthday yesterday. And none of you remembered. Hasta. ^ top-Precasting. A Forecast, and A Request. [Ian] July 10 - 8:45 PM EDT Ok well, precasting. In case you haven't heard. It's um, back. At the request of some, and to the caring of no one, I will give you my thoughts. The first time I heard about precasting being back, I shrugged and said yeah right. If it is, it's a bug and will be taken out soon. Well, I then heard differently and decided to check it out for myself. The first night I logged on I had someone show me the new method and tried it with a long spear. Let me be the first to tell you, that night, anyone that gave themselves less than 90 str and 90 mana and still tried to use the hybrid template, I completely rocked. I lost twice the entire night using the mage/spear tactics template. Those duels I did lose were to people who used the same template as me, they just happened to get the para blow in before I did, and were smart enough to capitalize on it. The second night, I logged in with Nieves and wanted to try out a few different templates. Ok in all truth, I wanted to bust out the old haly wielding template. Well, I pretty much killed everyone that didn't know what they were doing. Then John of Baja from our own forums gave me a little taste of how spears roxxor your sorry ass haly wielding self when you have low dex. Although our duels lasted quite a long time, he beat me on both occasions. (we won't count the first time I was attacking nieves and couldn't figure out why I died in 3 seconds) (see: newb) Even though the haly hit harder, he wasn't ever really close to dying. For those that would like to see pictures of me dead, I think Nieves kept his finger on the alt prt screen button in a state of euphoric joy the 3 times I died. If you ask him nicely or otherwise, I am quite sure he would be willing to accomodate you with one. :)Anyways, I then fought A higher dex war hammer using hybrid named egg. I recommend you don't use that template. The next day I decided to log onto test center and do some pking. I hooked up with a few guys from Oceana and one, who claimed to be that shards best pvper asked to duel me. Ok.. this is where it get's interesting. He was using the spear template and I was using a scribe/hiding template. Note that I didn't even change it to poisoning or healing just for practice. Well, after a quite lengthy duel with a UO:R mage template of hiding and scribe, I beat him. He never really even got me close because I kept moving, never letting that spear hit me. At this point he was upset and challenged me again and this time, wanted to use a bow to roxxor me. I took archery as my choice to make it even and for some odd reason couldn't get my precast to work. So.. after a duel that lasted 20 minutes and me firing a total of 6 arrows because I couldn't figure out that you have to equip at the same time as you cast with bows, he finally got me after a lengthy duel. Note: The method described is going to change as the precasting is going to be modified to how it was formerly. That is waiting for the targeting cursor to appear and then arming your weapon. In other words, precasting will be very simple to use. Ok, so where does that leave the immediate future of pvp. In my eyes at least, precasting without insta-hit, really doesn't amount to anything. I mean, the fun with precasting was casting a spell, hitting with a haly and in one motion casting a spell, all the while displaying a multitude of flashy moves while your opponent put on a poetic show of defense in his or her own right. Instant hit was a very key element in making precasting what it was. That being said, there will be a new brand of pvper that takes these templates.. the way I see it, Dexxers are still going to completely rock the hell out of these hybrid mages who drop their scribe. You still don't want to go toe to toe with a lumber hoe that can kill you in 2 hits while you arm your little spear with 35 dex and hope to get 1 hit before the 1 or 2 it actually takes them to dismiss you to the healers. Now, for those that will alter their stats and do something like 90 70 65, basically unless you can insta hit that dex doesn't mean much, and without a lot of mana to finish you are a sitting duck for pure dexers and pure mages alike. For now, I would recommend sticking with your template unless they bring instant's back. This is a highly debatable topic. Basically, this whole precasting is back biyotch™, is more gimicky than anything. Archery mages will gain from this as you can precast poison while you arm a bow, wait for a hit and poison instantly. Instant hit would make it much better. I so want to stay and fight these puke ass Lumber gimps. Instant hit would at least give me a shot, you would see far less running on both ends. Let's face it, when a dexer gets the first few hits off on you mages, of course you are going to run. Likewise, when a mage gets the first few spells off on a townie, of course they are going to run and heal. I think if instant hit was brought back you would find the game more enjoyable to play, and the fights would again become legendary, and something spectacular to watch and be a part of. With pvp being completely consentual now, there are no excuses for people who don't know how to precast. I still contend the Pure Lumber 7x character is by far the most powerful single character this game has ever seen and would stay that way even if precasting WITH instant hit was brought back. The game is much different with all of the special hits now. Bringing back the instant hit would not be a revert to the old days. It would just bring back a little more excitement and a little more playability for mages. One more thing. If used right, harm is to be very feared now. ^ top-Precasting. [Nieves] July 10 - 10:32 AM EDT I don't know about you...but it's getting old talking about this. Anyway, if you wish it, go talk to Adrick, Evocare, and Zak about what you think, or don't think, Precasting should be about. Then, when you are done, thank Fear for bringing it to our attention. Hasta. ^ top-Just a few updates for the morning... [Sinister_Saint] July 10 - 7:10 AM EDT Fixes on Orc Mask and War Paint and UO3D Titles It appears that at least some (if not all) of the fixes for issues with orcs masks and war paint will be in on Wednesday. In response to I'm just wondering when that healing patch is going in. Since it's a real pain to run around as a savage when you can't heal while fighting Orcs or for 2 minutes after that. Calandryll replied on the UO Boards : The fix for healing with regards to orc kin masks and savage paint will be in on each shard's Wednesday maintenance, with the exception of Chessie since it will be getting the publish previous to this one. All other shards will have the fix. And in response to we found a side effect to (war) paint thats rather amusing :) men when painted can wear woman's armor LOL don't even ask how we found out :) Calandryll replied That's fixed too. Will be active this Wednesday. In response to a query on the UO Boards about UO3D titles : Secondly, with publish 12 is the whole system (relating to UO3D titles) now in, and if theres a 3rd tier, will it stick longer (presumably for the amount of effort it would take to get it)? FieryIce (Programmer UO) replied Yes, the system is completed in Publish 12. As far as making your titles last longer you just need to kill the more difficult monsters. I can't give you specific numbers but killing harder monsters essentially gives you more time to keep your title. I can tell you that getting the 3rd tier of titles does involve a little bit more than just killing lots and lots of monsters though... . Damn people. OSI is waving the new titles in front of everybody like a carrot on a stick. I for one do not see myself running to Wal-Mart to buy a copy of UO3D for 30 bucks so that I can get to Ishnetar (or however the hell you spell it)and bladespirit my way to some new and 1337 title. BAH! Give me my damn vet awards.... ^ top-Precasting [Nieves] July 9 - 12:12 PM EDT The next update to TX6 will have some changes to *precasting* 1] You will no longer be able to arm a weapon durring the delay period of the spell. 2] You will be able to arm a weapon after the delay period (when you have the spell target cursor). 3] Targeting the spell will auto unequip your weapon (if you have one in your hand) Like I said Im not sure when but on the next publish to tx6 these changes will be active. Enjoy and feedback is always welcome Adrick - Designer - Ultima Online Origin Systems Inc. EA.COM Like you thought they were going to leave it the way it was? Ya think? Personally, I think this type of precasting adds a little bit of flava. I was fighting on Test Center with a Mage just so I can learn how the hell you fight with one and try to get better. In my first fight, I cut that Eval/Jacker up fast. All I could do was look at the screen and say: "wow". Afterwards, he changed tactics, and started tearing me a new ass. Lumberjack hit (1/2 mana), then he dropped his precast poison on me and hit me with an ebolt. He then precast poison again, and came back at me with the Axe. All things being equal, he dropped me 4 times. Maybe if I really was good at using a Mage in PvP, I might've stood a chance. Maybe. I realized even moreso how powerful potions really were. I kept saying to myself: "If I only had potions". Ian was there with me and told me that not having to rely on potions is part of being a great PvPer. He also told me that he does use him and doesn't blame anyone else for using them. They are part of the game. Anyway, I learned something. 30 point heals and curing poison without being interrupted is a crutch one gets used too. One I don't mind having if I can get it, but I guess being able to deal with things without potions is a good thing. I will be back on Test Center 6 again. I am sure Ian can tell you about his own personal Test Center 6 experience. If he needs a screen shot or two, I can send those over to UOPG's server and he can link 'em :). Oh, in case anyone's interested, my fortune cookie said today: "Adversity is the test for strong men". Anyone that knows what's going on in my UO, UOPG, and real lives can tell you, I am sorely being tested right now and can appreciate the irony of that fortune. Hasta. ^ top-No rares for you. [Eric] July 9 - 9:36 AM EDT To answer Elawyn's question...the savage paint (and all other items) will remain in the game and spawning after the scenario ends. -Jonathan "Calandryll" Hanna Designer, Ongoing Content So stop camping the savage and orc spawns...the masks, bolas, paint, and any other newer items that have come from the scenario WON'T be rares ever, as they will continue spawning when the scenario is over. ::evil laugh:: Cya later. ^ top-I will take that incomplete Mazda Protege over there. [Nieves] July 9 - 9:26 AM EDT The one without an alternator, a steering column, and without a windshield. I mean if gaming companies can put out less than what they advertise, why not everything else? When are these pendejos going to get a clue? World War II Online and AO are both jokes. I really do hope Shadowbane, Neverwinter Nights, and hell, even the "big 3", UO, EQ, and AC are all paying attention. Incomplete releases and versions are unacceptable. ::sighs:: Like it matters anyway. We still pay our monthly bills, and we still go buy the software in the store. Now I know why I didn't get Windows 98 until a year after it had been released. And people laugh when I don't buy a game for 6 months or more. At least I avoid all the bugs in the interim release and get to see how the game does during that time. Go read what Jinx had to say about it. I am sure you will be entertained, and surely agree with his insight. Also, if you get a chance, go read what's said over at Game Terror about DII:Lord of Destruction. That game is absolutely amazing. If my computer would quit getting nauseous after 1/2 hour of game play, I would enjoy it more. But it's not as buggy as OTHER games I know. Hasta. ^ top-Retraction [Nieves] July 9 - 9:05 AM EDT A week ago I made a public a apology to the House of Elements. What I should've done was apologize to my, now, ex-guildmates. Noone likes feeling like they fucked up. But, even when you do, you have to take responsibility for what you say or do. Right? Right. There is always the proper way of dealing with situations. And when it comes feeling that family and friends have done wrong, you take it inside tell them how you feel about it, curse, spit, roll around in the 'wrasling' ring, and then hug and move on. I still stand behind my feelings about the situation. But it could've been handled alot better. I just hope they see the sincerety of this. It doesn't matter if I am back with the "crowd" or not. What matters is I am saying what I am saying now. And to those folks that feel they don't have to deal with "petty" disputes. Even -IF- you don't feel you have anything to do with the situation, being nice about it goes a long way to NOT making it uglier than it already is. But what do I know? Hasta. ^ top-What I wish I could do on the net... [Nieves] July 8 - 11:28 PM EDT Someone is alot more motivated than I am when it comes to posting stories on the internet... Enjoy the Shadowmarch. Hasta. ^ top-Kittys and Pooches [Nieves] July 7 - 6:42 PM EDT You know you love your kids when you take 'em to a movie and realize that it really sucks the big one and you decide you will stay because they are laughing at it. Take your kids to see Cats and Dogs and suffer like I did. Hasta. ^ top-In true Ech Em Yoo style. [Nieves] July 7 - 12:58 PM EDT oo0ooo0oooo oo0ooo 000oo0oo o0oo !!! o00o! oo0ooo 00000!!! -Hasta. ^ top-UOPG Forums are back up. [Nieves] July 6 - 12:57 PM EDT Bitch at Castle Blackthorn and crew because I got to go in and fix the forum link for EVERY SINGLE FREAKING PAGE ON THIS WEBSITE. I guess I got to call J.Lo and tell her our date is off tonight. Ok, it's our fault for hardcoding all of our Web Pages. Yes, I am hating life these days. Dammit. UPDATE: The forum link above works. It always helps when you copy the correct file to the correct directory. Hasta. ^ top-Oh yeah, I forgot. [Nieves] July 6 - 12:05 PM EDT I didn't tell you they were going to leave the precasting in did I? They said in the UOHoC chat last night that they had "reevaluated their stance" on the precasting debate. I have my own thoughts why they did this, but all I can hear in my mind right now is the Precasting Advocate Council singing their Hallelujahs. And it's drowning out any clear thinking. The resonating chant of "BRING BACK PRECASTING BIYOTCHES" clangs in my head as if I was standing in the bell tower of Notre Dame. If you want to see exactly what they said about it, go to UOHoC and check it out. If you are looking for a link, you lazy bastards, scroll down to my morning update about the questions I wanted to submit. Yes, I am also too lazy to relink it for you. Bleh. Hasta. ^ top-Speaking of Neverwinter Nights. [Nieves] July 6 - 11:14 AM EDT I knew this fucking game is going to rock. Check this out. What other game can you take a course from the designers of the game so you can get ahead of the game in learning how to script for it's engine? Dammit I want that game. Hasta. ^ top-For the Dungeons and Dragons Players [Nieves] July 6 - 11:05 AM EDT VIVA LA REVOLUCION! Nice website. Very good concept. Sometime this weekend, I am sure someone will report about the Neverwinter Nights Stratics Chat that was on last night. Just for you folks that are looking for NWN news from us. Hasta. ^ top-UOHoC Chat [Nieves] July 6 - 8:29 AM EDT I went last night with a few questions. I sent a message to one of the message takers and asked the following: What if mages had to have a staff to cast a spell? Before you go apeshit on me, think about it. You still got your wrestling to do a wrestle check to successfully cast a spell. Plus, the attacker has to take into account that they are going to get whacked by a Blackstaff or a Gnarled staff if they get too close (Quarterstaves would unbalance this I think). If the mage is out of mana, he can use the staff to get in a couple of hits to keep another mage honest. Not too mention the myriad amounts of gnarled magic staves out there that aren't being used at all. Explosion+Paralyze+Explosion+Ebolt+Macro that uses the lightning bolts off your staff. It's an idea. If you don't like it, tell slinky he sucks. He told me to submit it. Personally, I like it. Also, per Watts request (honest), I asked if Balloons could be put in as a 4 year reward. For all you rare enthusiast, this would be the coolest thing added to the game. I think. My questions? Is Precasting going to stay in? Are they going to add new skills into the game (i.e.- Masonry)? Are they going to add more features for people to do with the other skills (i.e.-Blackstaves for blacksmiths, bowyers reparing xbows, tailors repairing studded leather)? Did my questions get submitted? No. But a whole bunch of crazy shit was. I want to know how these questions get chosen, and why the fuck people insist on being asshoes coming in with names that will get you kicked or banned. Dumbasses. It's a conspiracy. I know. OSI hates me. I should be used to it by now. All of you hate me, too. Hasta. ^ top-Get a life. [Nieves] July 6 - 8:17 AM EDT If you are playing this game, you need one. And some counseling as well. Hasta. ^ top-UO Ex-Volunteer / Player Luncheon August 3-5th Northern Virginia [Gator] July 6 - 7:19 AM EDT I got this from SRC DreamOn and Training Lead Tigger in my email the other day. I have never been to one of this events, mainly becuse of my work schedule. But regardless, heres the info for those that might be interested: UO Ex-Volunteer / Player Luncheon August 3-5th Northern Virginia Time is running out! To date we have 106 attendees signed up for the Luncheon. If you plan on attending or know of someone that is planning on attending please have them fill out the sign-up page at the luncheon web site and get their payments in. Due to space limitations we will stop accepting participants at the first 100 paid attendees. To be sure you are guaranteed a space please pay as soon as possible. Confirmation has been received !!!!!! OSI representatives Adrick and Ignatz (formerly IGM Twilight) have been confirmed for attending this event. Where: The Luncheon dates are: August 3 - 5th @ Centerville and Leesburg Virginia. This event is open to anyone that volunteered for or plays Ultima Online and their families. This 3 day event is going to be a blast and you now have a choice of making it a camping weekend as well. Events: rain or shine! August 3 (Friday) Meet and Greet Casual Dinner: Time: 9pm TGI'Fridays, Leesburg Dinner fee not included in cost. August 4 (Saturday) Group Picnic: Bull Run Regional Park 7700 Bull Run Drive Centerville, Virginia Time: 9 am - Dusk The picnic will include Hamburgers, Hot dogs, Sausage, Chicken, Salads and more. Enjoy a day of meeting new people that share common interests, talking to UO live members and see if you can win one of our great door prizes. Cost per person for barbecue: Payment must be made in advance $20.00 per person if payment is received before July 5th. $25.00 per person if payment is received after July 5th. August 5 (Sunday) Brunch @ Bob Evans in Leesburg Time: 11 am Fee not included in price of luncheon. Payments: The cost for the BBQ is: $20.00 per person if payment is received before July 5th. $25.00 per person if payment is received after July 5th. ******* No payments will be accepted the day of the BBQ, Payments must be received in advance!! ************* Payments can be made through PayPal or by check, money order, cashiers check. Information on where to send payments is on the webpage. The luncheon webpage located at: http://www.dreamwater.net/game/uofriends/ has a few new areas added to it. Ride Share/Room Share Information: Message boards for anyone that would like to share a room to cut down on costs, share their home with others coming to the luncheon, anyone that can drive someone in (locally to their area), for people that may need rides from the airports to their hotels. Please take a look at these boards and offer assistance if you can =) Accommodations: Discounted Hotel accommodations have been set up with Homestead Dulles. A room with Double beds is $69.00 per night and Queen size is $79.00 plus Tax. Before you make reservations for a room please email tigger@pounced.net for a confirmation number. Once your receive your confirmation number you can call the hotel and set up your reservations. Rooms are running out quickly and with the area having many different events going on that weekend rates are going to be higher at other hotels. So be sure to email as soon as possible for your confirmation number if you plan on using Homestead Dulles. Airlines: Southwest Airlines offers low rate flights from all over the US. Many people attending were able to get round trip flights for under $100.00. Camping is also available at the following rates: Electric site: $23.77 per night for 7 people (2 tents) Non electric site: $20.12 per night for 7 people (2 tents) If you can not afford full accommodations try posting on the Ride Share/Room Share boards =) Luncheon Gear: With the help of CafePress we are able to offer shirts, mouse pads and other items for the luncheon. Shirts will not be sold at the luncheon so make sure to order yours now. Some people have suggested doing a scavenger hunt or capture the flag event at the BBQ. If anyone is interested in taking care of these events or would like to run another type of event please let us know =) See you in August! Former: SRC DreamOn and Training Lead Tigger Other than that, I hope everyone had an excellent and safe holiday!! Later ^ top-Uh oh. [Eric] July 6 - 12:39 AM EDT Here's a tidbit I stole from an article over at Lum the Mad's...: An undisclosed source has revealed that an attempt is being made to implement the code created for UO2 in the new UO 2.0 project. This scares me. Whenever OSI begins a large project (UO2, Veteran Rewards, UO:R housing in Trammel...), it isn't usually pretty. Let's pray for the best on this rumor. And in case you haven't heard enough on the orc/savage scenario, you just have to hear some more information: Update on some of these issues: Healing problems with paint and masks. -Fixed and verified by QA. Will be in next week's publish. Kirins and Unicorns with savage paint. -Fixed and verified by QA. Will be in next week's publish. Can't track players who are wearing savage paint. -Still working on this one. Putting on paint allows you to loot savage NPCs that you did not kill. -No confirmed reports and not reproduced. Looking into generic looting rights issues. That putting on paint allows you to PK people in Trammel. -Not related to savage paint at all. I won't say what this is, but it is fixed in publish 12. -Jonathan "Calandryll" Hanna Designer, Ongoing Content Looks like they're working out some of the bugs...*wonders what happened to this mysterious "publish 12."* What's the future looking like, as far as the scenario goes? A little Q&A from Cal on that one: 1.What kind of time frame are we looking at before the next one starts? A month? Two months? - about 4 weeks after this one ends. 2. Also, Will we be filled in more about what the "other" people are? The ones mentioned in the story on June 28th? They are not orcs or savages, but they seem to be controlling the savages in some sort of way. Will that be in the next one or will we find out more before the end of this one? - Not everything will be revealed in this scenario (next week), but any unanswered questions will be covered in the next one. The next scenario is an extension of this one, sorta like the sequel to a movie. Also from Cal... The story more details the location of the dynamic part of the scenario than anything else. Also, in the story, many folks are remaining to defend the towns and drive out the monsters once and for all. The savages/orcs aren't going to leave the towns on their own! :) I know, it's a lot to take in. Don't worry, it's almost over. I'm sure you have chests full of tribal and orc masks by now anyway. Goodnight. ^ top-Forums Down [Eric] July 5 - 8:17 PM EDT Someone over at Shattered Crystal (I'm actually not sure who it was) informed me that the forums will be down until tomorrow, as they are upgrading to UBB6 (a more advanced format). Until then, please feel free to use our IRC channel (#uopowergamers) over at irc.stratics.com, port: 6667. Cya later. ^ top-Adrick asks. [Nieves] July 5 - 4:00 PM EDT Adrick wants to know your thoughts on PvP. BRING BACK PRECASTING BIYOTCHES!tm Should I tell you what I think about those changes on Test Center 6? Nah, you probably don't give a shit what I think anyway. Hasta. ^ top-All of 'em. [Eric] July 5 - 11:39 AM EDT Some people have expressed interest in the tribal masks, if there are actually 30, and what exactly all 30 look like. Here you go: Source: http://www.tradespot.net I'm actually curious if these things are going to stop spawning once the whole scenario is done with. If so, you better start collecting all 30 while supplies last. ;) Cya later. ^ top-Cynthe and Cal speak. [Nieves] July 5 - 10:24 AM EDT First off, Cynthe on Luring in Trammel: The next question, then, is how do we determine intent? That's a tough one. It's the same tough question we face in just about every grief play situation. Just about every form of grief play uses game mechanics that are not - in and of themselves - bad. Blocking a doorway is not bad. Keeping someone from ever entering their house is. Writing text is not bad. Spamming in front of a priest at an in-game wedding is. And like this, running from monsters is not bad. Deliberately luring them onto other players to kill them is... in Trammel, at least. Trammel is meant as a safe zone from other players. These policies have been in place for a while, but we're working now to make them more clear, and clear up some of the gray area. :) Now that's what I am talking about. Clear up all the gray areas PLEASE! And, if you are in a Trammel dungeon, and you let some lurer train on you and kill you, then you should work on your skills as a dungeon crawler. Noone should ever let this happen. I did find something interesting: Blocking a doorway is not bad. That leaves ALOT of interesting ways to make life interesting for people in dungeons. Does that mean I can bring a bunch of boxes? I thought that was wrong. Does that mean I can cast magic trap on the door? Before you get your panties in a whad because I point this out, relax. If you think I am giving some things away to the griefers, they are smarter than you think, they will figure this out themselves. And, it's better I let you know some ways they could go about doing these things so you are better informed players right? And, again, if you die in a Trammel Dungeon to anything other than lag/lost con, then you need to work on those dungeon crawling skills big time. Or, get your other skills up (50swords/50tactics/50resist and 65 str is death for anyone in any dungeon). And now, Cal: 2. Savages *WILL* attack the pets of a paint wearer, this includes horses, nightmare, dragons, whatever *BUG* -Not a bug. This works the same as the orc mask. The savages only see you as a savage, the pets they see as aggressive animals. Tamers beware. And quit crying. There are plenty of places for you to hunt. Otherwise, get a fighter and fight them mano a mano like the rest of us. 5. Paint seems to have another buggy effect, where you cannot heal yourself under certain circumstances. I heard about this problem with the orc masks as well. I also had trouble healing my pets while wearing paint. However, after fighting for about 30 minutes painted, with a pet, the healing problems seem to go away on their own. --Yup, that's a bug. Known issue that I thought I had fixed this week, but it didn't take in the publish. I have a comprehensive fix completed and it should be in next week. Aight. 6. Supposedly, if you're wearing Paint, you can heal Savages without going grey. Unconfirmed. --If that is true that would be a bug. One got past you didn't it? And Cal speaks some more: Since there have been quite a few posts about the savage paint and the orc masks, I figured it would be a good idea to post some more information about them to explain why they are doing some of the things they do. Healing problems with paint and masks. This is a bug, something I thought I had fixed last week, but I missed another way it can happen. I tracked that one down too (and found a really, really, stupid coding mistake on my part) and it's fixed. QA is looking at it and if all goes well it will go in next week. Happens to all of us Cal. As long as you recognize it (as you do), and fix it, it's ALL good. Paint dissapearing when you die. This is not a bug. There are two reasons for this. One is that the system automatically reverts you back to your original body type when you die as part of the polymorph code. This is deep in the C code Ooh...it's in C of the servers and to be perfectly honest, wasn't something I felt comfortable having changed given the problems it could cause. Don't fuck with the C code Cal...just nod your head and walk away. One of the goals of the content team is to touch existing systems as little as possible. The other reason is because we want the paint to be an item that cooks can sell over and over again. Which is also why it wears off after about a week. Um...give something to Cooks? Why? When you have Alchemists, Blacksmiths, Carpenters, and Tinkers looking for something more to do but what they have now. Let Bowyer/Fletchers be able to fix Xbows. Hell, I have been yelling for Masonry for awhile now. Let me shut up before I go on a rant. Kirins and Unicorns. If you put on savage paint you can't ride a kirin or unicorn. This is a bug and it'll be one of the first things I look at when I get into the office on Thursday. I am pretty sure I know what is going on with this and if I am right it should not prove difficult to fix. I'll update this tomorrow in case it's more than I thought. Aww....they can't ride their babies? Why not make it after they put paint on a check is done in the system to see if they have less than the minimum they need to tame said pet. After they fail the check, the animal goes wild on them. Yeah....::holds his hand over his mouth and continues:: Masks/Paint exploding after attacking an orc or savage. The mask and paint will explode if you put it on after attacking (or being attacked by) an orc or savage respectively if they are still in your aggressor list. This is as designed and done to avoid certain exploits. Think of this as the magic properties of the mask/paint knowing that you have recently assualted one of it's kin. If you have a mask/paint and attack an orc/savage, wait a few minutes before putting the mask/paint on. This is especially true if you kill an orc and get a mask as loot. Do not put it on right away! Can you say "noto flagging" against monsters? hehe..I can see it now. Attack, run, put the mask on, "boom", deathmoan, resed, "wtf?" :) Unconfirmed bugs. I've seen two bugs posted here that have not been confirmed yet. -Putting on paint allows you to loot savage NPCs that you did not kill. I suspect (if this is true) that this is more of a generic looting rights issue than an issue with the paint since the system itself does not recognize that you are a savage and so is the NPC. To the system, it's just body type numbers and there is no association between then two. I'll check into this to see if there is an interaction that I missed though. -That putting on paint allows you to PK people in Trammel. I have only seen one thread about this so far. I would suspect if it were that simple and actually happening, there would be far more posts (and GM calls) about it. My feeling is that either it's not occuring or there is a lot more to it than just the paint. But with an issue like this, I prefer not to guess. If anyone does have info on this, please send me a private message. If I am able to reproduce it, this would become the content team's highest priority, but again, from everything I have seen, it's hard to say that it is actually occuring. I don't want to cause any alarm by posting about this, but at the same time, I think it's important that I acknowledge the report and not blow it off as impossible just because it is unlikely. Hmmmm...::runs off to get some paint to test the PK bug:: Dammit...I forgot, I am stuck at work. Sucks being a temp. Hasta. ^ top-Steven Spielber's A.I. [Nieves] July 4 - 7:51 PM EDT "Wow". My dad took me to see E.T. when I was 11. At the end he asked me if I was crying. I told him no. I lied. A.I. has to be one of the deepest movies I have seen in a long time. It's slow developing. It has a lot of dialogue that makes you go "what the...?" It's not Gladiator. It's not Shakespeare in love. It's not Shrek. But it has elements of the above. It's not a movie for everyone. But if you are someone that likes movies like Strange Days or Dangerous Liaisons, you are in for a treat. I could go on for a 1/2 hour about the whole movie. But I can sum it up in one word: "Wow." Hasta. ^ top-CoB is Back Online. [Nieves] July 4 - 2:19 PM EDT Go give them some love. Hasta. ^ top-God Shed His Grace on Thee... [Gator] July 4 - 11:29 AM EDT Myself being a military man, I would just like to take the time to wish everyone a Happy Independence Day. In everyday life it easy to get wrapped up in the rat race and forget where, as Americans, we come from, and what this country was built upon. In todays numerous Bar-B-Q's and Fireworks displays across our great nation, take time out of the day to reflect upon the men and women who have died to let us be where we are today. It is up to us, to ensure that those that gave the greatest sacrifice, their lives, did so that we could be free today. And if we keep the flame burning, their memory will never be lost, and our country will continue to move forward, making the world a better place. Happy 4th Of July my fellow Americans... Sincerely, SSgt Christopher L Snuffer United States Marine Corps ^ top-Nigga, Please... [Nieves] July 3 - 7:33 PM EDT People think it's cool to play Nazis and, you know, call people "cool" names. Go see what the ever wise Myschyf has to say about it. YOU GO GIRL! Note: For the record, the term in the Subject is not indicative of a racial slur or my use of one. It was a term used while I grew up in the streets of the near west side, and on the east side of Cleveland. Puerto Ricans and African Americans "hung" together and that is what we used to basically tell someone: "yeah, right" or "get a fucking clue". What I am saying is directed to those idiots playing the Axis forces "true to form". To them, I say- "get a fucking clue". I have never used the 'other' -N- word. Anyway... ::waits for the flaming emails:: Hasta. ^ top-Star Wars Shuffle [Ian] July 3 - 3:43 PM EDT Before you click it's recommended you have a p2 or higher and a high speed connection. It's worth the download though. No Axers were harmed during the making of this animation. This linky goodness brought to you by Albino BlackSheep ^ top-Tribal Paint [Nieves] July 3 - 11:04 AM EDT I did some research and found out that you get tribal berries spawn on the female savages. They look like blue apples. Then you need a chef with a minimum of about 80 cooking skill to use flour on the berry and you get a grey honey jar. That jar is your tribal paint. Woot! Also, dont have a regular jar of honey in your backpack when you make it because it will become a honey jar. SECOND UPDATE! Here's a picture of what the tribal paint can do to you that I found on the UO.com boards. Thanks to FatherGanja, UOSS Mod, LS Shard Reporter for posting this pic. Grimhawke Rares Enthusiast Evil Bastages Council of Mages Atlantic It looks great in UO3D. Too bad it still doesn't work right for me. Does this mean I have to put the Cooking skill back in the skill section? Anyone want to write me up an essay on it? I have no clue how to GM that skill. Hasta. ^ top-You knew it was coming. [Eric] July 3 - 9:49 AM EDT Word on the street is that tribal paint is the newest item that has come from this morning's scenario additions. I haven't experienced it first hand *yet*, so thus cannot give you much information. Stay tuned to this update, as it changes while I uncover more information. Until then, IanStorm has some great info/pics on this new tribal paint. What I'm also hearing around, is that tribal paint works much like the orcish kin masks, in that while wearing it, you cannot be attacked by savages (hell, you look like them). UPDATE: Nieves just posted some good info. above, and that with the info. over at IanStorm, everything is pretty much explained. ;) Cya later. ^ top-A Public Apology [Nieves] July 2 - 11:27 PM EDT To the members of the House of Elements. I apologize for the bullshit that happened tonight. I wasn't the catalyst, nor someone directly involved, and I don't have the full story, but I feel responsible as I was an officer in that guild. I tried to work things out with your higher members but it fell on deaf ears. I apologize for bringing them in and upsetting them. I was only hoping to "fix" what I saw was a definate problem. I feel bad and hate when shit happens this way. I would hope BDA and @E@ would mend their "fueding" in the future, and that @E@ and UOPG can work things out. Hasta. ^ top-Essays. [Nieves] July 2 - 10:18 PM EDT If only you know the trouble it takes me to get these essays transfered over. Phah...you don't want to hear it. Go read the 3 new ones in the essay section. Resist. Treasure Hunter. Vendor. Hasta. ^ top-Info and Tips from the Readers [Nieves] July 2 - 7:17 PM EDT Uoassist has cartograhpy in the skill agent tab. Just choose carty and assign a key. It searches all the maps and uses only blank ones. But dont move the maps or it has to "re-search" them all (I guess it marks them). This makes it alot easier than using a set macro. They tend to srew up alot and you get the message "you cant write over that". Thanks. I hope this helps, Luthor Atlantic Drunken T- Hunter, R/S Sweet. Makes those macros easier eh? BTW: Punctuation, spelling, and proper grammer helps. I just wanted to let you all know. Pure Mares and WWs are spawning again on the chesapeake shard for those of you who care. :) Pure mares now spawn in the third dawn land(I forget the name.). Great news if yer a tamer. ^^ Grandmaster tamer. ~Blood Moon GO GET 'EM BOYS! Oh, and if you are a TWINK (65/65) Tamer, you can't have them. That's a new thing with these Pure Nightmares and Pure White Wyrms. You have to tame them in Ilshenar to have them. ::blinks his eyes a couple of times as the mouths drop:: ::walks away snickering:: Hasta. ^ top-Orcs, savages, ______, oh my! [Eric] July 2 - 6:19 PM EDT Calandryll posted the following news in a couple different areas of the UO Community: Because of the recent publish and the holiday (July 4, Wednesday) we will be publishing the next scenario publish today, active tomorrow morning on all shards except for Chessie. Chessie will get the publish sometime later this week. My apologies to those on Chessie for the delay, but given publish 12 and the holiday, we feel this is the best course. I'll keep you posted should anything change. -Jonathan "Calandryll" Hanna Designer, Ongoing Content There are roughly 2 weeks left of this scenario...any predictions on what we'll see tomorrow? I'm willing to bet now that the savages and orcs decided to make peace and wreak havoc on Brittanian cities together....*sighs* Or, maybe we'll see some colored bear masks from the new all-mighty bears that scare the savages away from the orc forts. I know, I'm a lot of crazy-talk after a long tiring day of work. And Chessie players...don't complain about not receiving the scenario as soon as all of the other shards: you'll have Vet. Rewards before anyone else. And now, it's time to go work on my fighter for the Catskills B&A guild. Cya later. ^ top-For those wanting to GM Cartography. [Nieves] July 2 - 3:58 PM EDT From Silent Mobius (well, something he found and reposted in the UOPG Forum): From the bowels of the Attended Macro database: Well, now that cartography became a little easier as of late, I have once again begun my task of becoming Grandmaster of Cartography, and thought some of you might benefit from me posting my strategy of gaining skill. I'll try to keep this post fairly short. Then again, I tend to ramble, so maybe not. Oops, there I go rambling...better just shut up and get on to the details: I work full. Get full and eat a cooked fish steak every 10 minutes to stay that way. It helps. I promise. I don't move around while making maps, although I do move at least 8 tiles if I fail (either unsuccessful or destroy the map completely). I just make the maps right there in the shop. If you get in the habit of buying maps for your next power hour right after the one you are working in is up, or have another character buy your maps, you can maximize your map making time during your power hour since you don't need to waste time finding maps. With the method I use described below, it takes me 20 minutes to make 100 maps, or 300 maps during a power hour. I make only world maps, nothing else. Although they are more expensive, you can make world maps over the regular town maps that the NPCs sell. You cannot inscribe over town to town maps (Britain to Minoc, etc..). So if you are not concerned about the gold, just buy town maps during your blank map buying spree. I don't bother trying to sell back the maps. The NPCs almost rarely buy them, and if they do, its only 5 or 10. Sell a few after your hour is up, since the NPCs turn them back into blank maps after they buy them, and you should be in 'map-buying mode' anyways, but don't waste the recall reagents recalling all over the place trying to find an NPC in a buying mood. When buying maps, have a few empty pouches or packs to hold them. After you initiate the sale with the NPC, while your name is being typed out on the bottom of the trade window, pick up and hold the pack you want the maps to go into on your cursor. When the sale is complete, they will all go into there. A side benefit of this trick (and it works for the sale of everything from an NPC) is that the item limit is not checked. So as long as you are not overloaded (maps only weigh 1 stone each) you can carry more than the 125 item limit. Just dont remove anything important from your pack while you are over the limit, as you won't be able to put it back in I use UOAssist to help me make maps. Make a macro as such: Use Skill (Cartography, duh), Target Item Type (convert it to item type (map)), Menu Select (world map), pause 9000. Then, put all your maps on the ground, or in a secure (as long as they are out of your pack). Put one map in your main pack and start the macro. As soon as UOAssist makes the world map, take the just-drawn map out of your main pack and place it in a discard pile (another empty pack, or trash barrel, or the ground will do) We interrupt this broadcast to bring you this special bulletin: Drop them on the ground and and I will find you and PK you. Put them in a trash bin you lazy bastards. -Nieves You may now continue with your regularly scheduled program. so you know which maps you have drawn on and which ones are still blank. During the 9 second pause, you should more than be able to take the just-drawn map out of your pack into the discard area, and place a blank one into your pack. Just continually rotate the maps as UOAssist does the work until you run out of maps, or your power hour is up. Like I said earlier, with UOAssist, you should be able to get about 300 maps drawn during your hour assuming you have all the maps bought before you start. Without UOAssist, you'll have to select the menu each time, as well as complete all the other menial tasks involved in Cartography, so you won't be able to fit in as many during your hour. I am currently at 97.7 Cartography skill, and gain on average about .6 per power hour, or .1 per 50 maps. I'm sure I forgot something, but I hope I remembered enough to help a few of you out there. I would love to hear from anyone this article may have helped. Good luck fellow Cartographites! ---By Uther Pendragon The macros [Illegal Methods edited out. Sowy boyees.] UOAutopilot is a NO NO per OSI's guidelines. My apologies to the person I promised to have my personal Treasure Hunter Essay up by the end of this weekend. It's on my list of priorities for tonight. Damn Real Life for getting in the way. Oh, and Damn Watts and His Blizzard North Crystal Meth he got me hooked on. And I will integrate the above essay into my Treasure Hunter Essay. I keep telling you to visit our forums more often. But do you listen? NOOOOOOO!!! You just keep going on your own merry way doing your own little things. Fine, be that way. NEH! :P Hasta. ^ top-The Truth Hurts [Ian] July 2 - 11:02 AM EDT My horses name = PlayAMageGimp ^ top-All Good Things.. [Ian] July 2 - 10:25 AM EDT Lum the Mad, perhaps one of the most talented writers/ranters in our corner of hell, has taken a job with Mythic Entertainment and will be working extensively on Dark Ages of Camelot as a tools programmer and will apparently be helping in the customer service department in some fashion. I surf the web a lot while at work. The site I surf most often is Lums. That community has been dealt a severe blow. Best of luck to Lum at his new home, and I also wish the best of luck to the LTM staff, in their efforts to keep the site going. Like him or not, you can't discredit his influence, or his ability as a writer to make you think. He will be missed. ^ top-Don't pay for that pile of shit. [Nieves] July 2 - 10:19 AM EDT So says Myschyf: So this is a request. I urge you, implore you, beg you even to fight back. If the game doesn't work take it back. Get your money back. Refuse to pay for big stinking piles of shit. We have the power, we can make them rebuild it and all that groovy sloganistic type of crap. But its true. Its time for this type of thing to end and I urge you to do what you can to make the online gaming industry more responsible to its patrons. Case in point. I was looking for a song. I didn't know it's name. The girl at Camelot (cute redhead by the way), told me it was "this one". Daddy AMEX bought it for me and I took it home. The freaking song wasn't on it. In fact, I didn't even like this particular "pile of shit". I took it back, showed it to the gentleman behind the counter and explained to him what I was looking for. He asked, "does the song you are looking for have these words: blah blah blah"? "Yes!", I heartily replied. I got the CD I wanted and was happy. I didn't blame the girl her ignorance, but I took action to get my satisfaction. How does this relate to what Ms. Mys had to say? If it's not what it was supposed to be, take the damn thing back, get your money back or trade it in for something else. Anyone playing WWIIo, take it back. Tell those rats that they are rats and they can have their rat dung. If you just got AO, take that shit back to the store and tell them they can flush that down their collective toilets. It's high time software sevelopment firms put products out that WORKS the FIRST time. Blizzard does it on EVERY RELEASE, why can't the others? Hell Asheron's Call worked ok (even though incomplete) when it was first released. And it's not like they can't look around at the industry and say: "hey, they did this wrong, here is why and here is how we can avoid it". It's not that hard, is it? Fuckers. Hasta. ^ top-Got to love it when stuff works... [Nieves] July 1 - 10:03 PM EDT or not. I was working on transfering essays to the website. I was doing great. Up until I got the blue screen of death and lost all the work I had accomplished. Sometimes I hate my freaking computers. No typo there. I got 3 pain in the asses. BaH! Hasta. ^ top-Attempt #...I just can't count this high. [Eric] July 1 - 4:37 PM EDT Chesapeake Shard Maintenance Schedule The daily server maintenance for the Chesapeake Shard on July 2nd will be changed to 9am CDT in order to implement Publish 12 to this shard. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Here they go again...who wants to place bets? Gambling in UO - I can see it now... Cya later. ^ top-A lil News on Pub 12 [Vasilias] July 1 - 10:36 AM EDT After the release of Publish 12 to the Chesapeake shard yesterday (June 28th), issues related to the event scenario data required that the shard be reverted to a time before the publish was released. We regret this necessity, and are working to see that this problem is solved before Publish 12 is released again. We are currently targeting to release the publish to the Chesapeake shard early next week, and we will update the players on the schedule when we are confident that the issue has been addressed. Although this publish does contain the eagerly awaited veteran rewards system, please remember that to ensure the system is released smoothly, we will wait until all public shards have received Publish 12 before the veteran rewards system will be activated. Once all shards are running Publish 12, and we are confident that the veteran rewards system is functioning properly, we will begin to activate veteran rewards systematically on pre-determined shards. Please note that this means that players will not be able to choose rewards immediately once the publish is received. We are working to see that this delay will be as short as possible, and we appreciate your patience. - FreeGameCam - Game Links - Markee Dragon Brokers - Markee Dragon News - Shattered Crystal Game Codes - TrustWho - Warcraft Bot - World of Warcraft Screenshots ©2000 - 2006 UOPowergamer Enterprises. The names, UOPG, UOPowergamers.com, Powergamers.net, NWN.powergamers.net, and all information contained within this site is Copyright UO, Powergamer Enterprises, and other respective Copyright owners. Mad propz go out to Warlord for UOPG's graphics. Without his help, what you see wouldnt have been possible. 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