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UO in Review -- 3 Nov 2006 Wilki Becomes Dev, No Longer Community Coordinator UO Week in Review--29 September 2006 Server Maintenance UO Week (or thereabouts) in Review--16 Sept 2006 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 t