The following post verifies information I recently viewed pertaining to the return of some sort of "Volunteer" program. The information I viewed scheduled this return around the release of publish 21 (Roughly first of next year)
Event Moderators – Ultima Online Origin Systems/EA Online is looking for a few good Event Moderators to help facilitate in-game events. If you have a passion for fiction and feel this is something that interests you, please e-mail the information listed below to uoevents@uo.com with the subject line “Event Moderator.” Applicant must be 18 years of age or older. Submissions must be received by Friday, August 1, 2003. Your name. Your home address. Your main account username (please do not send your password). How long have you played UO? Which shard do you play on? Have you been a “Seer” before? If so, tell us about one event you participated in or helped create. Rate this event on a 1 to 5 scale (5 being the best), and tell us why you chose that rating. Why do you want to become an Event Moderator?
Publish 19 on Test Center Jul 3 2003 4:59PM CST (GMT -06:00) Publish 19 is now available on a Test Center shard. Here’s a short list of some of the changes you’ll see on Test Center 5: Bulk Order Books Quick Self-looting Blocking Items on the Terrain Publish 19 Bugfixes If you’ve never been on one of these shards, you’re in for a treat. Test Center shards are used for us to examine new features, systems, and fixes before they go live on all normal production shards. They aren’t always available and they’re sometimes wiped clean, but when these shards become available you’ll often get a bit of a sneak preview into what may be coming up for UO. Characters created on Test Centers are also temporary, but you can instantly change their stats & skills with simple commands and their bank boxes are full of valuable resources.
Again, everything on that shard is still in testing, so the modifications there may change before going live, partly based on feedback we get from players such as yourself. If you find any bugs while adventuring on TC5, please e-mail us a note about what you’ve found. Test Center bug reports should be sent to tcbugs@uo.com. Try to include as many details as you can, especially the following points: Client Version Number. This is located at the bottom of the main UO login screen. Server Name Detailed Bug Description (step-by-step, tell us what you did and what happened) Date/Time of Occurrence Location (Sextant coordinates, facet, and city location) On-site references (If you spoke with any official OSI representative, what was his/her name and what were you told?)
There was a sort of mini-quest on Great Lakes. Apparently Dawn was doing a speech and then was attacked by Blackthorn. You can find out more about the event including some picture in a post made on UOTrades.net. TradespotLBpostpics
Sunsword (or it was Mr Tact I forget) also posted to keep an eye out on other shards during the week for more events like this. Also he said town criers do annouce them.
We decided to push the vendor changes out of Pub 19 and into (theoretically) Pub 20 for a couple different reasons. One was internal -- some unrelated backend server development work caused problems getting the vendor changes into QA testing. Without confidence we could have it all thoroughly tested, we'd either have to delay Pub 19 or move the Vendor Revamp to another publish. Once putting Vendors in Pub 19 became doubtful, we decided to have another look at the feature. We found that while there was a lot there, most of what was there was features that we needed to improve the quality of the game as a whole. For example, the rental contracts are there to allow players to work out vendor agreements without GM intervention. If we put in a set of server-enforced rules regarding vendor contracts, then Game Masters can't take calls asking for vendors to be removed from people's houses. A lot of possible scams and opportunities for generating ill will between house owners and merchants vanish. GMs are able to focus more of their time on other types of calls. It's a net win for everybody.
But, if you really think about it, this kind of compromise win-win thing doesn't really make everyone ecstatic about the feature change going in the game. (Part of compromise is that both parties have to give up something they want.) It will undoubtedly be a good thing in the long run, but for the short term a lot of people are a bit peeved about things.
So, by pushing Vendor Revamp to another publish, we have an opportunity to do further refinement and development work on the feature. Now, we are going to reconsider many of the "optional" items that we initially cut from the list. For example, we're looking hard at finding a way to allow player vendors to buy stackable items from players, and a bunch of nice interface improvements -- like allowing a player-run vendor to use the same Sell Menu that NPC shopkeepers do. Designer Helios is going to be the point man on this, so I'll leave it to him to talk about the details as these further changes to the vendor design become more solid over the next couple weeks.
As Sunsword promised (and after several weeks of brainstorming on the message boards with Vex and the team), we would like to offer an in-game gift as a way of showing our appreciation for all those players who've made this one of the busiest times in UO's history, as well as a way of offering something out of consideration for anyone who’s gone through a revert or other problem caused by the high traffic during the Age of Shadows launch.
The gift will consist of two parts, and will be distributed per character, not per account. This means each character will receive Item #1 and Item #2 (see below). The actual date for these gifts has not yet been decided, but players should expect to see these come to the game in one of our upcoming publishes (basically, once we’re out of immediate bug-fixing mode).
Item #1 For the first item, players can choose one of the following things: tunic surcoat jester suit sash robe plain dress fancy dress kilt skirt half apron full apron sandals shoes boots thigh boots cloak rose (for those who would prefer not to choose a wearable) Next, the player will be able to choose from a selection of inscriptions to engrave on the item, which will include the character’s name.
Lastly, the player will be able to select a hue for the item from a selection of unusual hues. Choose wisely, because the item cannot be dyed once selected!
This item (Item #1) will be blessed, and will be transferable between characters.
Item #2 In addition to whatever they choose for Item #1, each character will be able to choose from the following: A scroll good for +5 to any skill of the player’s choice (This will act as an immediate 5 point skill gain in any skill. It will not raise a skill over its current skill cap.) A scroll good for +5 to their stat cap These items will be usable only once, and the effects will be permanent. These scrolls will be non-transferable, meaning it will only work for the original character who claimed it.
Remember, each character will get two gifts! Item #1 can be traded, but Item #2 will only work for the claiming character, and will be consumed on use.
Cynthe (Community Manager, Origin Systems) started a new thread in the myUO Forums reguarding known issues and bugs:
(Note: Although some the OSI boards allow any visitor to read, in order to read or post in most of the official Ultima Online message boards you’ll need to be logged into the forums. Click here to register.) Disclaimer:
Generally we do not post extensive bug lists, but right now, we’re seeing a lot of confusion as to what’s a bug and what’s not. Melkor, a dedicated UO player, has posted several versions of a bug list, which we’ve borrowed to work from (thanks, Melkor!). However, before we start, there’s a couple important things to remember:
1. This is not a list of every single thing in our database, so if you do not see something specific listed here, that doesn’t mean we’re not aware of it. 2. Some bugs are exploitable, and will not be listed publicly until after they’re fixed. 3. This list should not be considered a schedule – not all of these bugs are high priority. 4. This does not mean we will start documenting all bugs publicly or updating this list on a regular basis – this is only meant to soothe some current concerns about whether certain bugs are known or not. 5. Not all of these are AOS bugs; some are issues that were in the game prior to Age of Shadows.
Fixes being released in the next couple publishes:
• Some players are experiencing client crashes when trying to log in certain characters (due to excessive items loading in the area where the character logged out). There is a fix in testing currently, but for now, players are asked to log in with a different character and call a GM. • Some doors in custom houses are static and unusable. • Teleporters in houses can become bugged – this is a side-effect of the same issue as the static doors.
Top things we’re looking into right now:
• We are looking into issues with grandfathered vendors not working as intended, such as counting toward lockdowns or not taking prices on items. • We’re looking into issues regarding secure containers and lockdowns, and the permissions on those containers. • Some players have reported other players entering homes they shouldn’t be able to enter. • We are investigating reports of condemned houses decaying faster than they should. • A player has reported seeing his house go condemned through the house’s previous owner acquiring a new house.
Other known issues: (These are already in our database, and are listed in no particular order.)
• Any colored runebooks equipped before AoS may now be invisible. You can un-equip the runebook by using the Disarm macro. • If you are carrying this invisible runebook, items traded to you through the secure trade window may go into your runebook instead of your backpack. A GM can remove these items for you. • Some houses have become improperly placed. (This does not affect the house’s functionality at all.) • Using the “inscribe” skill from the skill list can cause text such as “66 uses remaining” to appear over your character’s head. • All pre-AoS runic hammers have dropped down to 15 charges regardless of color. • Log cabins lose some size and secures when they are turned into customizable plots. • 100% success hiding in your own house is not working. • Barkeeps are not showing their defined profession, and are showing only as "barkeep." • Some mounts may 'vanish' or change color if the status bar is pulled off of them. • Various items are not displaying the correct name (ID wands, etc.) • Boats cannot be refreshed using their plank (They can be refreshed through drydocking.) • If you lock down a necromancer or paladin spellbook, the spells inside may decay. • Ancient Smithing Hammer (ASH) and the Gloves of Mining do not currently raise skill beyond 100. • Some items are falling beneath the floor in houses, making them appear to be lost. A GM can retrieve these items. • Some items, such as plants, cannot be used while locked down. • Keys can not be copied (attempting to do so says "you can not unlock that.") • Players doing the Solen Matriarch quest may not get credit for their Solen Matriarch kills. • Ghosts cannot teleport out of the Solen tunnels. Until this is fixed, they will need to either use the “stuck” option or have a friend resurrect them. • Personal Bless Deeds and Bulk Order Deeds can be smelted for ingots. (Please note that this is illegal, and can get you a warning if you’re caught doing it.) • Pre-AoS items that added stat enhancements are continuing to add this enhancement after the charges have run out. • Harvesting resources from a plant in a customized house may kick you out of the house. • Trash barrels are staying in place when a house is customized. • When the foundation on a custom house is changed, vendors and barkeeps may be booted to the house sign spot. • Young characters are currently able to enter dungeon Doom and retain their [young] privileges. • If a player casts “horrific beast” while sitting, the player’s client may crash. • If a container has been placed in a moving crate, it’s possible the container may still be flagged as being in that crate once it’s removed. Players who try to place items in these containers afterwards may receive the message “You cannot place items into a house moving crate.” (Note – for a temporary workaround, try placing each container on the ground, and picking it back up.) • Skittering hoppers currently cannot be fed. • Customizing a house with a guildstone in it can cause the guildstone to become bugged. A GM can fix this for you. • Placing house add-ons on certain floor types can yield a "cannot place close to the stairs" message. • Certain types of leather armor are not allowing meditation. • Some players are experiencing difficulty gaining certain skills (such as parry and archery) past 25, even on successful attempts. • There are some issues with special leather being converted to normal leather, and vice versa. • Some runes are not changing to the correct color when marked for a different facet, and are also not displaying the correct color once placed in a runebook. • We’re aware of issues with recalling, such as recalling to the wrong facet, staying in the same place when you recall, or being told you are “recalling to a blocked location” if you attempt to recall off of the runebook itself. • Some custom house pieces, such as waterfalls, are being counted as half-walls in some circumstances, preventing players from walking over them or placing on top of them. • Hooded Shrouds are slightly discolored in the LBR 3D client. This will be fixed once the new wearables have been patched out to all 3D users. • Some "low-growing" plants are hard to see when locked down on certain floor tiles. • Certain tiles in the “misc” section of the customization tool are invisible when added to the design. Once placed, they must be first replaced by a visible wall section, then deleted. • A house deemed as private can not be "passed under,” meaning that if a house is placed as private over an underground cave path, players can hit an invisible wall when walking through that cave. • Using a green thorn in a Malas desert will produce the hole that should take you to the fifth Solen hive, but some players may not be able to enter. • There are some issues with escorted NPCs not following into dungeons or gates. • The ferryman can't be summoned in Doom if the skeletal dragon is in the dungeon. He can be found in Moonglow, but he will not teleport you to the boat in Doom currently. • The Doom boss gauntlet is not being re-set after it has been activated on some shards. • Stationary ("frozen") monsters are not dealing out damage. • The backpack on your paperdoll will only show item count or weight in the single-click display setting. • Some items are not properly showing their contents, number of charges, etc. through a mouseover. Sometimes moving these items around or locking them down can cause the item description to update. • You can no longer steal things from town chests. • Guild abbreviations and player names now have an automatic upper case first letter. • A Horde Minion can cause players to get murder counts when fighting in factions if it attacks an enemy faction player that is blue to it. • Some poisoned weapons are not showing in mouseover info that they have been poisoned. • Some GM and IGM placed NPCs have gone wandering. • Under some circumstances when riding an ethereal unicorn you can appear to be wearing a black ship on your head. • Players in a necromancer form can be looted when they die. • New necro reagents cannot be placed in a commodity deed. • The "brick" at the back of small towers no longer appears in-game, but may still block placement of a new house. • You can currently craft weapons with unreasonably high STR requirements. • Night Sight is not functioning for some players. • Characters may sometimes lose Mana when failing to successfully cast a spell. • Swamp dragon barding doesn’t offer resistance bonuses to the swamp dragon rider. • A character equipped with an Order Shield cannot perform beneficial acts on one with an equipped Chaos Shield, and vice versa.
So to wrap up:
If you see an issue listed here, that means we know about it, and you don’t need to send it to us. If you know of an issue and you don’t see it here, and you want to make sure we're aware of it, feel free to send it to us at uobugs@uo.com. That is a MUCH more effective way of getting your bug info to QA quickly – posting it on the boards means it has to go through several different sources before it finally makes it to QA (if it doesn’t scroll off the boards first!).
Thanks! __________________ Cynthe Community Manager ORIGIN Systems
Publishing Fixes to Lake Superior Feb 28 2003 2:37PM CST (GMT -06:00) We will be publishing an update to the Lake Superior shard that will be active after that shard’s Saturday morning maintenance period.
This publish will contain the following fixes: A number of server optimizations and fixes. Note: this includes a fix for the largest cause of shard lag & instability. Customized house doors will no longer become “static” and unusable. This fix will also retroactively fix any doors currently affected by this issue. If no issues arise, we anticipate rolling this out to all other AoS-active shards, except for the Atlantic shard, as of their respective Monday morning maintenance periods. (We are currently monitoring the Atlantic shard regarding other fixes, and if no issues arise there then Atlantic will also receive this publish).
Note: Characters that log in with spellbooks (“classic” spellbooks only, not runebooks, Necromancy, or Chivalry books) in their bankboxes may see them transferred into their backpacks, but if their backpacks are full these spellbooks will subsequently drop to the ground.
Designer_Vex (Designer - Ultima Online) 02/27/03 06:56 PM
After spending quite a bit of time going over the feedback from the last thread on the subject of an Age of Shadows Launch Gift, I've made note of the following items. I've categorized them roughly by type and am offering some initial feedback based on what I've seen so far. Remember that we're still brainstorming for good gift ideas. The actual selection process is just beginning, and it's not too late to submit an idea of your own!
It's very possible that I missed some ideas from the previous thread -- there was a lot of text there to read through. If I've missed your idea, please feel free to re-post it on this thread. One thing you can do to help is to not re-post an idea already listed here, and when posting an idea not on this list, keep your post small and to the point.
Let's keep brainstorming! Here's what I've gotten so far:
Game Design Changes
Let me be honest and say right up front that we aren't going to be able to do a soulstone or a fireplace deed for the Age of Shadows gift, because these two items are already in the works for a future publish.
Now here's a few more suggestions, and my thoughts below:
* Runic Fletcher Tools * New Type of Steed * Home Hitching Post/Stablemaster * Gambling System * Additional Character Slot * Portable Forge * Sex Change Deed * New Choosable Title * Home Bank Access
These are all really good ideas, but they do seem to be much more appropriate as game system additions or modifications to be added as part of regular content updates. These aren't really gift ideas -- they are game design ideas. By pointing that out here I'm basically saying we're probably not going to do any of these for the gift, but these are the type of the ideas we keep on our wish list when we start planning a game update.
A few more suggestions, with thoughts below:
* 800 Skill Cap * 250 Stat Cap * Secure Container - Extra Secure or Bank Box Storage * Boots of Speed * Blessed Bag of Sending * Necklace That Prevents You From Being Dismounted * +10 To All Resistances * Weapon Sheath * Ability To Ride Dragon * Blessed Container
These items are all very similar to the previous list. The difference here is that these are much more major changes, either in terms of difficulty in implementation or in alteration of game balance, which means they are not likely as a gift in this instance.
And as far as the following three ideas go, I'm afraid these just aren't doable at all.
* Bring Back Power Hour * GM Robe * Name Change Deed
House Add-Ons
The following ideas all relate to house add-ons. Generally, we would like to avoid using a house add-on for this gift, because not everyone has a house. However, if we do end up allowing a choice between a few gifts, then one of them certainly could be a house add-on.
* Bee Hive House Add-On * Mounted Dragon Head * Moongate House Add-On * Bookshelves with Books * House Pet * Special Secure Container that Commodity Deeds Work In * Mountable Head Plaque * House Design Theme Packs * New Paintings * Weapon Rack * Display Shield * House Decoration Theme Packs * Deed To Grandfather a Vendor * Tall Candelabra * Horse Barding * Saddle
Dye Tubs
All of the following are dye tubs of some sort. Any new dye tub would have to be carefully considered. The advantage of this gift is that anyone could use it and get benefit from it. The disadvantage is that everyone would have one. Unless, of course, we went with a choice between different gift items.
* Pet Dye * Spellbook Dye * Sandal Dye * White Leather Dye * Neon Dye * Tailor BOD Reward Dye Tub * Neon Leather Dye * Black Furniture Dye Tub * White Dye Tub * Neon Leather Dye * Ingot Dye Tub * Armor Dye
Repeats of Existing Gifts/Rewards
These are ideas to consider as well. These all exist in some form or another, so creation of these obviouly wouldn't present any implementation difficulty. One thing we don't want to do with this gift is devalue any existing similar gifts, though.
* Extra Veteran Reward * Power Scroll * Extension to Early Settler Rewards * Gold * Bless Deed (Personal) * Extra Mini-House * New Ethereal Steed * 0-Year Vet Rewards
Items
These ideas are items, or are things that modify other items. Some of the best candidates for this gift item are in this list. They are items that are not bound to houses and could be universally useful.
Keep in mind that this isn't specifically the list of items we are considering for this gift. I'm just saying that this type of item makes a good candidate for the gift - not that it's necessarily something we will choose.
* Hooded Shroud of Light * Dyeable Hooded Shroud * Special Body Sash * Skill/Stat Increase Item * Item of Clothing with Special Ability * Ability to turn Reward Cloak/Robe into Other Clothing Type * Polymorph Robe (or Other Item) * Ethereal Clothing * New Type of Mask * New Type of Cape * Armor of Shadows * Armor of Light * Clothing Item that is a Light Source * AoS Commemorative Clothing Item * Deed to Rename/Hue/Bless One Item * Emergency Bag * Magic Rune * Item Engraving Tool * Deed To Make An Item +10 to All Resists and Indestructable * Statue of your own Character * Rechargeable Fireworks Wand * Medusa Head (Makes a Statue) * Skill/Stat Increase Scroll * Statue of Some Kind * Improvement to Magic Item * Ethereal Item * +25 Stat Cap Scroll * +5 To Skill of Choice * "Shadow" Rose * Bag of Random Item Generation
Mean and Vicious in a Cute Sort of Way
While the following ideas do not necessarily have an in-game function, they do have usefulness by providing amusement and maybe a bit of catharsis. I'm honestly not sure of the chances of these ideas, but they're still in the running.
* Head of an OSI Team Member * OSI Team Member Piñata/Training Dummy * Dev Team Member Voodoo Doll * PK The Dev Team Event
Like the previous gift threads, we're asking everyone to stay on-topic! Tell us if the direction we're going works for you, or if you think we've left out some great ideas. Feel free to add your own ideas if they're not here, with a short description as to why you think it's the perfect gift. But most of all, keep it short, and please don't feel you have to post if you don't have anything to add, or if your idea is already listed. Thousand-post threads take a really long time to get through - especially if it's not new information! And lastly, please don't use this thread to debate whether we should give out a gift or not, since that part's already been decided.
And so, I leave you for now with the feedback we've gleaned so far. Please keep the ideas coming!
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Basically we have two ways at the moment to distribute these gifts: The Vet Rewards system, and a per-character on-login thing. Each way has some ups and downs I wanted to bring up.
If we were to distribute using modifications to the Vet Reward system, that means we can allow a limited number of items per account. Doing that would allow us to select a reward that might be fairly powerful or very useful, without too many of them being created.
If we give something out per character, then it's likely it would have to basically be eye candy, or its use would have to be limited to the claiming character, much like the personal bless deeds.
02/25/03 01:37 PM About The Perfect Gift
Let me just talk for a moment about the design constraints we want this gift item to fill. I want to give you an idea of the thought processes of those of us here, to give you a better idea of the sort of suggestions we are more likely to go with.
1> The item must be relevant to the AoS launch, and not just to UO in general. What I mean by this is that preferably, the gift will be uniquely identifiable and easily associated with AoS. Something like a commemorative piece of clothing or jewelry, for instance. For this reason, we're going to be hesitant to consider suggestions involving existing game systems, like the home hitching post, portable forge, free power scroll, soul stone, fireplace, etc.. It would be nice if the gift weren't consumed on use, and could somehow be displayed (either on a character paperdoll or in a house, for example).
2> Preferably, there would only be one gift, or a series of similar items fitting a theme. The reson for this is that if we can focus on developing one item, or several similar items, we'll be able to create something of higher quality. If we divide our efforts into creating several different gift items to choose from, then all of them would be of lower quality. It's a classic quantity versus quality trade-off.
3> The gift should have universal appeal. Ideally, if we went with a single gift or gift theme, the items would be useful to everyone. Even if we go with a list of gifts to choose from, we are still faced with the issue of coming up with an option for everyone. The portable forge appeals only to miners, for example, and the home-based stables appeals mostly to tamers. It would be a very difficult proposition to come up with an option for every different UO playstyle, and even more difficult to make sure that each playstyle's gift option has enough appeal to everyone who might class themselves in that particular playstyle. It might be safe to say that no miner would be unhappy with a portable forge -- but what if tamers would prefer to be able to color their pets instead of having a home-based stable? The problem is exponentially difficult, and for that reason a gift that offers something everybody can use is a much better prospect.
Shrouds, Advanced Characters, and Character Name Changes Feb 26 2003 11:10AM CST (GMT -06:00) While some players are having the time of their life with Age of Shadows customizing their homes, exploring Malas, and raising the dead, others have run into snags that require the help of our in-game support to resolve before they can continue to play. We have the staff to solve these problems, but as anyone who has submitted an in-game HELP request recently knows, our in-game support staff is currently stretched to their limit, due to a combination of the influx of new players and the recent server instability, which our development team has been working around the clock to resolve.
We want to address every issue for every player, but we're seeing two major problems: (1) The number of calls is currently greater than the number our staff can take and (2) Every time we see a shard revert of any duration due to the server instability, we have to take care of many of the calls all over again, which is causing some people to have to call in for the same issues more than once.
With this in mind, we're enacting a temporary change to help reduce the Help queues down to more manageable levels. Of our current top call generators, those which have the least immediate impact on a player's enjoyment of the game are Hooded Shrouds of Shadows recovery, Advanced Character creation, and Character Name Changes — all of which require assistance from Game Masters. Please understand we don't think these services are unimportant, but our top concern is ensuring that people can log in and play the game, which puts the "blackholing" issue and any other "stuck" problems at the top of the list for support calls.
If you're eligible for the Shroud and have not yet claimed it, you can still enter your Hooded Shroud of Shadows Redemption Code manually and redeem your code through the help menu, and any Advanced Characters or Character Name Changes already paid for will still be addressed. The change is this: If you lose your Shroud due to a time warp or want to purchase an Advanced Character or Character Name Change, you will be asked to wait until our Help queue is under control and all game-stopping and time-sensitive issues have been addressed.
For anyone concerned about not getting a Shroud replaced before the previously stated deadline of March 31st, GMs will continue helping recover Shrouds lost to shard issues beyond the normal deadline to ensure that no one misses out on getting their shroud.
Again, these are not permanent changes. The goal here is simply to resolve the most serious issues in a reasonable period of time. We appreciate your patience and understanding and plan to resume full services as soon as conditions permit.