Ultima Online Quest Blog

Ophidians Attack

2006-07-07T20:28:00.000-07:00

Sneaking around and slinking up behind unsuspecting victims, Ophidians have invaded several areas of Britannia and seem to be attacking citizens at random. No pattern has yet been established for who they are attacking or why. According to eye witness reports, the Ophidians seem to be searching for someone in particular, but refuse to say who. Knowledge on why these overgrown snakes are roaming around on the outskirts of our fair towns and villages is scarce, though there may be a connection to the recent rash of missing persons reports originating from the cutpurse community.

Even the well fortified source of most of Britannia’s fighting population isn’t immune from these forays. Serpent’s Hold has reported Ophidians roughing up sketchy looking characters outside of the castle gates, though the snakes have yet to make any attempt to attack the Hold itself. Ophidian behavior is exceedingly difficult to predict, but there is hope that these minor incursions are not an omen of something much worse to come.

Notoriously reclusive, Ophidians are not known for traveling much farther than the mountain pass that leads to their home. Almost all contact with the Ophidians in recent years has been met with violence, as if they are protecting something of great value.

Read full: Ophidians Attack

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15 Trillion in Dirty Money Removed from Ultima Online

2006-07-06T16:33:00.000-07:00

From UO.com:

As outlined in our Rules of Conduct, we do not allow players to enrich themselves through the abuse of bugs or exploitation of game mechanics. We reserve the right to confiscate any items created through such means.

Recently, we discovered a large number of checks for amounts over one million gold pieces. Checks were never intended to exist in denominations of more than a million. Unfortunately, these inflated checks have been used by exploiters to store extremely large amounts of gold. These checks have now been removed from the game.

This action has resulted in over 180 accounts being terminated and approximately 15 Trillion (15,000,000,000,000) gold pieces have been permanently removed from the game.

We realize that some of checks for amounts over one million gold were created by players who did not intend to exploit or harm the game. The vast majority of these checks have been automatically replaced with separate checks equal to the total amount of the replaced check, which can be found in a brown bag where the original check was located. If the check was inside of a container, you will find the brown bag in the same location as that container. Please note that in some cases the brown bag will be underneath the container, so you will need to move the container to access the bag. If the check was in your backpack or in your bank box, the brown bag will be located in your bank box.

In some cases, this may cause your bank box or your house to hold more than their item limit. Don’t worry; the new checks are still safe! However, before you will be allowed to place anything more into your bank box or lock down an item in your house, you will have to remove enough items from your bank box or unlock enough items from your house to bring the total number of items below the item limit.

In rare cases where we could not safely convert these checks, the checks were automatically placed in a red secure container with the label, “Please contact a GM about this item.” These containers will not decay, so you may page a GM at your leisure to convert the checks. Please note: If these containers reside in a house, the house owner must be present.

We are committed to maintaining the integrity of Ultima Online, and will continue our efforts to rid the game of cheaters along with their ill-gotten gains. If you haven't done so recently, please take a moment to read the Terms of Service and Rules of Conduct, and remember to abide by them at all times.

Inu Quest on hold

2006-06-30T12:29:00.000-07:00

The Inu Quest has been put on hold for a bit.

These are exciting days for MMORPG fans here at EA. With the acquisition of Mythic, the UO team will be working with the creative folks who brought us Dark Age of Camelot and are hard at work on the spectacular-looking Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. I’m thrilled that the UO team and Mythic will work together to forge Britannia’s future.

There is much to talk about with our new partners, and it will take some time to review and finalize our plans. Because we need to take that time, we are postponing the announcement that we were going to make this week. The in-game fiction cycle will take a break for a bit and will return soon.

See you in Britannia,
Darkscribe

Inu Quest Secret Dungeons

2006-06-25T07:40:00.000-07:00

Inu Quest secret dungeon entrances added:

Here is how to get into these new secret dungeon areas for the Inu Quest happening in Ultima Online right now.

BRITAIN SEWERS

Where: In the sewers below Britain.

Visit: At the sign near the area with the switches at the North West end of the Britain sewers, you can enter this secret dungeon area by speaking "charvory" at the side of the sign near the switches in the screenshot.

SPECTRE DUNGEON

Where: On the island of Reg Volom in Ilshenar.

Visit: Run from Spirituality Shrine to the Spider Cave. Run through Spider cave until you get to the teleporter just outside the exit. Once in Reg Volom enter Spectre Dungeon and at the tip of the sword pattern in the hallway past the first room - speak "masteropenthydoor" to enter the secret tomb room below.

Find more here: Inu Quest Secret Dungeon Entrances

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Ultima Online Publish 39

2006-02-23T07:37:00.000-08:00

New Player Improvements

New Player Guided Tour System: Guided New Player
experience added in conjunction with the release of the Japanese “Starter
Kit”. Will be available (and skippable) to all new characters
upon initial log-in.

Font Improvements: Two new bold English fonts that
make the text easier to read. Also changed the default speech font color
to a readable yellow color.

Default layout: A new default layout that will make
it easier for new and returning players navigate the interface. The
default gameplay window size has also been set to the larger 800x600
option.

Spring Décor Collection items: This is a
set of house decoration items to be included in the Japanese “Starter
Kit” available in February. These items will be available to other
territories through uogamecodes.com beginning in March.

Quest updates and additions: 12 new quests that
help the new players get familiar with the game.

Interface and Art Additions/changes

Added new artwork for Dragon Armor and the Helm of Swiftness.

* Changed the character status screen artwork to make it more streamlined.

Added new Login screen artwork for the 2D client.

Added sticky health bars for all targetables.

Mouse wheel scrolling support has been added for the 2D client.

Menu bar can now be moved in 2D client

Adjusted the 3D character and creature models to make them fit more
inline with the world.

Object handles will stick where they appear to make targeting moving
objects easier.

Bug Fixes – Exploits

Players will no longer be able to attack mirror images to gain skill
or cause harm to other players in Trammel.

Changed the Mirror Image special ability so that it will no longer
cause players to get “guard whacked” when used by other
players.

Travesty will now cause damage when mimicking a player with a non-weapon
(fishing pole, candle, etc.).

Energy field will no longer cause players to be flagged as aggressive
in Trammel.

Players will no longer be able to area of effect rez ghosts through
house walls with Noble Sacrifice.

Players will no longer be able to provoke pets on other players in
a guard zone to get them guard killed.

Now that the snows have begun to melt, and the Winter Solstice has
passed into history, bags of sending can no longer be compelled to send
white cloth, or any other quest object, through the etheral void.

Other Bug Fixes

Lethal Dart and Broken Shaft quest will now work properly.

Ossian Grimoire can no longer be “blessed” by leaving
in a secured bag overnight on Siege.

Helm of Swiftness can now be repaired.

Helm of Swiftness obtained from a Peerless minor paragons can now
be worn by Humans and has been assigned the correct resists.

Changed two areas on Dreadhorn Island so they no longer teleport
players out of the dungeon.

Mondain’s 300th anniversary coin is now movable and will no
longer become un-locked if in a house nor will they be stackable.

Damage from all archery weapons has been adjusted Some underpowered
bows have been enhanced and some overpowered bows have had power reductions.

You can now trade regular blessed items. Personal blessed items still
may not be dropped in the trade window.

Changed the way the Aminia Werewolf Quest spawns creatures.. This
should eliminate problems with duplicate spawns.

Animal form now has a recovery time of 2.5 seconds. FCR 6 will reduce
this to 1 second.

Animal form now costs 10 mana to cast.

“Streakiness” in the random number generator should be
improved. As a side effect “8x8” will no longer work.

Flying creatures (dragons/drakes) no longer fall through surfaces
when they are killed. This will make it easier to loot their corpses.

Wyrms no longer spawn in or walk through stalagmites in Destard.

Changed message player receives when they are squelched and try to
speak to "You cannot say anything at this time, you have been muted."

Made game balance changes to the Delucia Dungeon to make it more
challenging to defeat the dread spiders.

House transfers are no longer allowed if the house exceeds the buyer's
storage capacity (Non UOML account)

Gender and Name Change

Warning text and a link to the uo.com information pages were added
to Name and Gender Change gumps.

When changing gender to male, players will now have the ability to
select a facial hair style.

Kane the Master of Arms Quest

2005-12-29T18:16:00.000-08:00

Kane the Master of Arms can be found in the city of Trinsic. The quest is titled: "Doughty Warriors." He will ask you to slay 10 Mongbats, and then 10 Imps - afterwards he asks you to slay 10 Daemons. Your reward will be the "Sash of Might." Keep in mind you can only complete this quest once per charachater. The Sash of Might is blessed.

This is another quest for UO - Ultima Online

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New Ultima Online Quests

2005-12-20T20:37:00.000-08:00

Read up on the latest quests for Ultima Online.

Rolf the Wandering Healer

Hi there, my friend!

I'm a simple healer, devoted to roaming the land helping those in need. But, my story is long and not why I came to you. Though they are oft neglected in this day and age, even the least of the lowly knows that there are eight virtues in this world.

I'm going to tell you eight stories, but it's up to you to find meaning in them…

There's no war going on, why is this old codger working us like this?

Kane the Master of Arms

No, no, NO! How many times do I have to tell you? You do it like this! Do you think this is a game? Do you think if you cry yield in battle that you'll get a hand up like you do here? You will die if you don't knuckle down and learn to fight less like slobbering puppies and more like men!

You! You think this is funny, do you? We'll see who's laughing after your first battle, you bunch of worthless, craven maggots!

*sigh*

How ever can they expect me to hold Trinsic with this lot?

Tags: Ultima | UO | Gaming | Games | RPG | Online | Video Games | PC | MMORPG

Ultima Online Publish 38

2005-12-17T12:55:00.000-08:00

Features for Ultima Online Publish 38

* Siege/Mugen PBD fix
o Players on the Siege Perilous and Mugen shards can now bless 1 item. Use the player’s context menu to do this. All other shards are unaffected by this change.
o Clothing with properties has been unblessed
* Combat changes
o 35 damage cap for direct damage for PvP (no cap for PvM)
o Word of Death now uses Chaos damage
o All stats have been capped at 150
* Name and Gender Change Tokens
* Christmas Trees can be placed
* Holiday Gift Boxes
o Holiday Tree Deed- Will offer 2 different types of trees
o Named Reindeer and Sleighs - These will feature the names of UO Team members (double-click to see the names)
o Snow Globe - Will have different places than previous years
o Soulstone Fragment - Because you simply can't get enough of these
* Players are no longer able to trade blessed items (this affects all shards)
* New Quests - BNN - Meanings

Primary Bug Fixes:

* Vendor Rentals now display the proper time remaining
* Player’s corpses now teleport out of a peerless dungeon when players are kicked out after defeating a Peerless boss
* Weight no longer remains if gold is in 2 piles when tithed
* Plant resources now stack automatically
* Corpses of creatures that were flying at the time of death can now be looted
* Fixed a client crash involving character transfer
* Fixed a potential shard crashing bug
* Peerless Boss teleport items used in the wrong facet no longer take players to a bad location in certain cases
* Fruit bowls can no longer be consumed if a player is full
* Added the ability for the Dev team to create chain quests that are either repeatable or non-repeatable
* Players can no longer get stuck in a state where they can’t fish anymore because they tried to fish while overweight
* Players can now only open one quest gump at a time plus their quest log

Tags: Ultima | UO | Gaming | Games | RPG | Online | Video Games | PC | MMORPG

Ultima Online Holiday Gifts 2005

2005-12-09T19:54:00.000-08:00

The Ultima Online holiday gifts for 2005 are just around the corner!

We've been working hard in the basement for months, and just in time for the Holidays, we've finished crafting some cool items. In just a couple of weeks, you'll log-in one day to find a gift box in each of your characters' backpacks. Inside you'll find a number of Holiday-themed goodies - it's our way of saying thank you to our loyal players as well as celebrating another great year of Ultima Online.

Inside of each gift box you will find:
• Holiday Tree Deed- Will offer 2 different types of trees
• Named Reindeer and Sleighs - These will feature the names of UO Team members
• Snow Globe - Will have different places than previous years
• Soulstone Fragment - Because you simply can't get enough of these

Happy Holidays from the UO Team!

Tags: Ultima | UO | Gaming | Games | RPG | Online | Video Games | PC | MMORPG

Ultima Online Evil Home Decor

2005-07-02T08:02:00.000-07:00

This is cool.

Evil Home Decor for Ultima Online has finally been revealed.

Express your dark side by decorating your house with the Evil Home Décor Collection, ghoulish furnishings that will be available for a limited time and part of a few key promotions. Every active player will get one of the items (one item or grouped set per account). (Your account must be active on June 24 to be eligible.)

The date of the giveaway will be announced soon!

After the giveaway, we will be adding the items to buddy program rewards, adding them as rewards to other upcoming promotions, and putting the items on sale for a limited time via an online store.

We are planning on adding more new collector’s item every 3-4 months, for use in a variety of promotions. Stay tuned to www.uo.com for news about what items will be introduced and when.

Meanwhile, don’t miss out on your chance to own a piece of The Evil Home Décor Collection. Here are all the items, in all their malevolent glory:

Read Evil Home Decor Rares & Items

Ultima Online Mondain's Legacy

2005-06-03T23:01:00.000-07:00

The shattering of the Gem of Immortality was the genesis of Ultima Online™. The shards created were perfect images of Sosaria. But with the essence of immortality seeping from the fragmented shards, the fabric of the universe began to unravel.

While mysterious guardian spirits are credited with the salvation of Sosaria, in actuality, the primal cooperative magic of the elves mended the world anew. Such an immense enterprise, weakened the fey folk significantly and they withdrew from the world and its affairs to restore themselves.

As self-proclaimed but severely drained protectors of the land, the elves watched in sorrow as plague swept through Yew and decimated the region, converting it to a foul swampland. Isolated and safe, the elves waited until the time was right to come forth again into the world...

... that time is nearly upon us.

Introducing Ultima Online: Mondain's Legacy, the 7th exciting chapter in Ultima Online's rich and storied history. Ultima Online: Mondain's Legacy includes groundbreaking new features, including:

New Playable Race: Elves

Twisted New Enemies

New Dungeons

New Spellweaving Skill

New Quest System

Collections

Increased storage capacity

New Playable Race: Elves
Mysterious and powerful, a playable race of Elves will deliver a whole new way to explore and rediscover Sosaria. Along with a New Elf city, the following Elvin themed features have been added to assist the Elves in their return to Britannia: New combat abilities

New architecture and housing tiles

New trainable mount

100s of new craftables

New wearables

New Elven City

And more!

You can start a new Elf character, or you can transform a human character into an Elf after a series of difficult trials and quests.

Twisted New Enemies
While the Elves bring the light of life unto the world, new enemies bring death, disease, destruction and corruption. These fouls beast include: Chief Paroxysmus -- a hideous disease-spewing walking pollution.

The Dread Unicorn - A noxious, twisted version of a once pure creature.

Lady Melisande - So foul, the mere sight of her causes humans to wretch.

Shimmering Effusion - A deadly light that appears when greed, evil and corruption are in the area.

10 other new monsters, Champion Spawns and Paragons.

New Dungeons Nine new dungeons to explore

Rare treasures to claim

New Champion Spawns

New Paragons

New Peerless Monsters, quite literally, the toughest monsters ever put into UO.

New Spellweaving Skill
Groups of 2 to 5 skilled casters produce powerful magic that would be impossible for one mortal to command. The more participants in the spell circle, the more powerful the spells, which include: Gift of Renewal

Immolating Weapon

Attune Weapon

Thunderstorm

Nature’s Fury

And many others.

New Quest System
New quest engine will provide 100s of quests and 100s of hours of gameplay. Rewards offered will be everything from minor artifacts and gold for simple quests to the ability to join the Elven race after a long arduous series of quests.

Collections
New cooperative collections including a Museum, Library and a Zoo. Completion of a cooperative collection results in rewards for everyone who contributed.

Increased storage capacity
Housing storage capacity will be increased by 20%

Keep an ear out for more specific details to be released in the coming weeks.

UO Publish 32 Details

2005-04-16T08:18:00.000-07:00

"TC2 Pub32 Test" will be running the Publish 32 Server code.

Players will find BODs have been added to bank boxes on test center to help with testing the BOD changes.

Publish 32 contains the following changes, fixes, and additions:

Note:
This is not a final list and may change before this publish goes live.
We will post a final list of Publish 32 details when we are ready to
publish to the production shards.

New Features

Three new Necromancer alchemy potions with two intensities each (regular and greater)

Conflagration – Creates a field of flame with damage based on the strength of the potion.

Mask of Death –
Causes monsters to ignore a player for a duration based on the strength
of the potion. Has no effect on monsters that are currently
attacking you.

Confusion Blast
– Confuses all monsters in an area. The size of the
area is based on the strength of the potion.

Necromancer Exorcism spell

Exorcism is a Necromancer spell that also requires GM Spirit Speak to cast

Exorcism will relocate any player ghosts around the caster to a shrine on that facet

Exorcism will only work in a champion spawn region

Exorcism will not affect players who have a corpse on the same subserver

Exorcism will not affect fellow faction, guild, alliance, or party members

Players with GM Spirit Speak can now see the ghosts of other players at all times

Exorcism scrolls will be craftable by scribes, drop off of some high ranking creatures, and can be sold to shopkeepers

Added guild and alliance chat

Use “\” for guild chat

Use “|” (shift + “\”) for alliance chat

Guild and alliance chat color and ignore toggles added to options gump

Improved looking radar map for both 2D and 3D clients

Shading based upon slope of tiles (except water and lava)

Shading based upon height of objects (will help terrain like the hedge maze)

Careful Z sorting (to make roofs of buildings look better)

Tree canopies (won’t display in Felucca unless tree canopies option is on)

Corrected hue processing

Added a monument south-west of the Britain bank on both facets

Monument has statistics about the invasion

The color of the statue and the wording on it will vary depending on how successful players were at fighting off the invasion

Mini-house “Church at Night” as a 1st Year Veteran Reward

Paragons are now hued bright yellow in 3D client

Players can now press the
Enter key to select the last used shard in the 2D and 3D clients, and
to choose the last used character in the 2D client

Changes

The Despise Humanoid Invasion has ended

Turning in a BOD removes the BOD timer based on BOD type (blacksmith/tailor)

BOD quest offers now display time remaining in minutes instead of hours

Adjusted the rate at which cloth prices fluctuate in the commodity system

Vendors can no longer be dismissed until all of the gold they are holding as been collected

The turn-in NPC for Treasures of Tokuno, Ihara Soko, can now find more than 10 artifacts in your inventory

Replaced Polymorph gump with a better looking iconic choice gump

Confirmation gump now appears when disabling auto-insurance

All spellbooks, including Paladin, Necromancer, Ninjitsu, and Bushido, will now decay

Fixes

Players can no longer fire a
bow while moving unless you are using the Moving Shot special
attack. Archery with low swing speed no longer waits too long
to attack after moving

You can no longer pay reduced rent by pricing items such that the total value of the vended items exceeds the system limits

Power scrolls given to dead players will now be placed in the player’s corpse

Decorative plants now display the plant type in their name

Fixed a few creatures that were still auto-dispelling summoned pets too often

Fixed the spellbook
descriptions of Demons, Energy Vortexes and Blade Spirits to reflect
the recent change to the number of control slots they require

Faction tags can now be seen everywhere on Siege ruleset shards, instead of just in Felucca

Improved script language performance and fixed issues with various scripts on the server

Other miscellaneous fixes that will not be announced before the publish is live, as they are considered exploits

Ninja Class page added

2005-04-03T13:22:00.000-07:00

Added info on the Ninja Class for Samurai Empire expansion. This page has info on the Ninja Special Attacks and more.

Master the art of Ninjitsu for ultima combat!

PVP?

Soulstone Fragments Are Available

2005-04-03T11:44:00.000-07:00

Did you miss out on the Ultima Online: Samurai Empire pre-order Soulstone? Did you get your Soulstone, but wish you had another one? No need to fear, Soulstone Fragments are here!

Soulstone Fragments are small pieces of a shattered Soulstone that have retained some of the Soulstone's energy. These fragments are only strong enough to store a fraction of the original Soulstone's power and can be used to transfer skills up to 5 times. After the power of the fragment has been depleted, it can be used as a decoration for your humble abode. There are 9 different Soulstone Fragments available to collect and trade.

Now you can enter your Samurai Empire upgrade code found on the back of your CD jewel case into UO's in-game promotion tool, and you will be given a Promotional Token that can be redeemed for a Soulstone Fragment.

What exactly is a Soulstone Fragment? How is it different from a regular Soulstone?
A: A Soulstone Fragment is a piece of a shattered Soulstone that contains a remnant of the Soulstone's energy. Since it is only a small piece of a whole Soulstone, it has a limited amount of energy in which to transfer skills between your characters. This energy will last for 5 uses - after that, you can use it for decoration, because it just looks so darn cool when you stick it in the ground.

Q: What does a Soulstone Fragment do?

A: A Soulstone Fragment allows a UO player to store skill points in a specific skill and to move skill points from one character to another. For instance, if you have a character that you want to be a pure warrior, but he has a bunch of Magery skill points, you can move those Magery skill points to another character you own.

Or, if you have a character you’d like be a blacksmith one day and a warrior the next, store your blacksmith skill points in one Soulstone Fragment and your swordsmanship skill points in another Soulstone Fragment. Change your character back and forth when you wish. (Except during battle. Soulstones cannot be used during battle.)

You can use a Soulstone Fragment five times only. After that, its energy is gone and it's nothing more than decorative rock.

Treasures of Tokuna Item List

2005-03-20T16:21:00.000-08:00

Added a page with the info on Treasures of Tokuna. If you are looking for info or item info for these Ultima Online rarities, check out the Treasures Of Tokuna item list page.

Tokuna Shipwrecks

2005-03-13T19:24:00.000-08:00

For the second night I've fought these new creatures in Tokuna. I fought on the edge of the shore as cranes and gamans roamed by.

For my Valor first off, I was awarded Daimyo's Helm. Great treasure in Tokuna. As I write this I am overlooking the shoreline as the wreckage and boards are everywhere. The new lands may be beautiful, but what is lurking here now?

Off to fight for treasure, see you in Tokuna!

Fighting Elite Ninjas & Kappa in Tokuna

2005-03-13T00:42:00.000-08:00

Tonight I ventured to Tokuna Islands and fought Kappas and Elite Ninjas for treasure in Tokuna.

I first hit the South Western peninsula on Isamu Jima.

I gained the Arms of Tactical Excellence.

Elite ninjas turned themselves into wolves and cats while fleeing as we slughtered them endlesslessly through the night.

The Kappas acidic stomachs burst open as my sword sliced them one and on, spilling pools of acidic slime.

Treasure In Tokuno

2005-01-27T21:53:00.000-08:00

The rumors of strange happenings have spread far and wide throughout Britannia. From strife among the ruling family to tales of a daring heist being carried out in the middle of night, the reports from Zento are that something disconcerting has happened. But most intriguing of all, the citizens of Tokuno have begun whispering that the remains of a great fleet lost at sea have begun washing up on the shores of the Tokuno Islands. It is being said that among the battered fragments of the fleet, strange relics have been uncovered.

Artifacts & Rare Items

2004-11-29T23:00:00.000-08:00

We have added some pages to include info on a few of the many Ultima Online rarities and artifacts. We started out with a few of the sought after weapons and armors.

Arctic Death Dealer - For a trained mace fighter against the right foe this weapon surely does live up to its name, A good damage increase, cold resist, and distribution of the hit in 50% to physical as well as cold damage. Along with the swing speed bonus and hit harm and lower attack bonuses this mace weapon is truly a dealer of death.

Armor Of Fortune - While it's resistances and protection are not that great, this shield certainly makes it up in magical bonuses. Lower reagent cost 40% and Luck 200! It being mage armor helps as well. Some great armor to find, or buy ;)

Blade Of Insanity - A powerful Katana, with Stamini regeneration, swing speed increase, a mean damage increase and nice stamina leech at 100%. This baby can do some serious damage in the hands of a talented and strong swordsman.

Blood Drinking Bow - Double Slayer of Orcs and the infamous Blood Elementals. Not much bonuses at all on this archery weapon, but can be quie useful for long range attacks against the powerful Blood Elementals.

Plenty more items, rares, and artifacts to come.

Dungeon Map Added: Covetous

2004-11-23T01:04:00.000-08:00

One of the dungeons that most adventurers start out playing in is the mine-turned-terror pit known as Dungeon Covetous.

Dungeon Covetous

At the foot of the mountains of Avarice one can find the entrance to what was once a mine of great wealth and is now known as Dungeon Covetous. The entrance is lined with fire pits and a winding curve full of harpies as soon as you enter the dark cavern. The Harpy Lair.

You'll quickly learn this cave is filled with a rapid spawning of harpies and to the solo adventurer can become quickly outnumbered unless you are capable of defending yourself against a healthy flock of harpies and the occasional Stone Harpy around the third bend of the cave and the Undead start spawning near the first straight path into the dungeon... (read more.)

Updated Housing Information

2004-11-18T21:34:00.000-08:00

As posted on the FYI.

Continuing forward with the launch of Ultima Online: Samurai Empire we will be activating house placement on the 6 remaining shards as follows:

Europa and Drachenfels during the evening of Friday, November 19th local time in Europe.
Arirang and Balhae during the morning of Saturday, Novemeber 20th local time in Seoul, Korea.
Siege Perilous during the afternoon of Friday, November 19th (PST).
Oceania during the day of Saturday, November 20th local time in Sydney, Australia.

Currently, there is some concern about the availability of UO:SE in Australia. We are looking into the issue and will delay housing on Oceania if it is necessary.

Publish 28 Details & Information

2004-11-17T01:29:00.000-08:00

"TC2 Pub28 Test" is currently running with the Publish 28 Server
code. Publish 28 contains the following changes, fixes, and additions:

NOTE: This is not a final list and may change before this publish goes live. We will post a final list of Publish 28 details as we are ready to publish to the production shards.

Samurai Empire Fixes

Music should no longer get corrupted when it loops.
Fixed afterimage while sailing.
Fixed stuck location while crossing server boundary on the path to Mt. Sho.
Fixed text cut off in Mongbat Quest for new Samurai.
Creatures can no longer follow ghosts in some situations.
New Gaman Animation.
Added bamboo flutes to loot tables so slayer flutes can drop.
Fixed Dexterity numbers on Elite Ninjas and Ronin – Variabilty was too high, causing a small potential for a spawn that could not move.
Landmass: Fixed lava tile under sculpture outside of Fan Dancer Dojo.
Increased damage for backstab.
Death Strike will now inflict Direct damage instead of Physical damage.
Fixed Stalking Bonus weighing too heavily in Backstab ability, and not enough in Surprise Attack.
Craftables: Fixed many of the items in the Misc. section requiring leather instead of cloth.
Craftables: Player characters can once again create kegs.
Craftables: Tetsubo can now be crafted of exceptional quality.
Art: Fixed the roof of the Zento provisioner so it will use the right type of roof tile.
Ghosts detect hidden will no longer reveal a stealthed player.
Detect Hidden will no longer reveal allies and other players in Trammel.
Factions: A faction player will no longer see a non-factioned player's pet as orange.
Factions: Faction players will now be allowed to ride their faction horse in south Tokuno.
Bestiary: A player’s pet will no longer have its Hit Points cut in half after the server is brought down for a publish.
Bestiary: Corrected an issue with the Lesser Hiryu. They can now be transferred to UO:SE enabled accounts and Master Bushido characters will be able to ride them.
Server boundary: Fixed location where a player character couldn’t loot his/her corpse when he/she died in Tokuno.
House Placement: Fixed issue with teleporting a player when placing a Classic house design while standing under it.
Purchasing Gargoyle stone mining and crafting books will no longer add 266 stones of weight each on player.
Fixed issue where plant's couldn’t be watered or tended to after patch.
Directed Experience: Young Ninjas will now equip a variety of weapons.
Directed Experience: Made quest dialogue clearer for Ninja quest.
A player can no longer stack special combat moves and Ninja spells.
Guilds: Fixed error message received when creating a guild with no abbreviation.
Guilds: Players are no longer able to create a guild with no name.
Guilds: Fixed typo in guild war announcement message.
Guilds: Can now do a search on guild's abbreviation.
Guilds: Alliance members can now perform beneficial acts on each other in Felucca.
Guilds: Fixed access issue with Guild house security settings.
Fixed an issue where Champion Spawns would possibly pick an invalid random creature spawn - hence no spawn would show up for spawns that didn't have static creature spawn.
Fixed the issue where Rikktor instead of Barracoon was spawning at certain champ spawn locations.
Fixed issue where Champions of Evil were spawning as paragons.
Fixed issue where Cyclopians and Titans were not spawning in one region of T2A.
Fixed giant Serpents, slimes, etc. spawning in doom.
Fixed an issue that was preventing Dread Spiders from spawning
Recall spell will now once again work for young players.
The Oaks champ spawn will no longer spawn grey creatures that attack positive karma players.
Professions: New players who pick Bushido or Ninjitsu skill will now start with the appropriate skill book.
Fixed 3D unused tile issue with Fukiya weapon.
No-Dachi is now listed in combat book under Crushing Blow.

Live Enhancements/Fixes

Instance Corpses

Damaging a mob and making the top attackers list allows you access to its loot in an fairly distributed fashion
- The looting rights formula has remained unchanged
Players or parties who make the top attackers list will receive an “instanced” loot container
This corpse container will only be accessible by the player and not viewable by others for 3 minutes
- Gold will be split evenly among all players on the top attackers list
- Generic stackable items (bolts/arrows, jewels, reagents, etc.) will also be divided among the top attackers
- Each player has a chance to receive up to 1/N (rounded up) of the creature’s total items (where N = # top attackers)
- Resources (meat, skins, etc.) will go to the player on the top attackers list who first cuts up the corpse
- Items the creature has looted from a player will only be available to the player they came from for 3 minutes
Each player’s own Luck will play a role in determining the loot that is received
- In the case of a party, the member with the highest luck will be used
Loot and resources left in the instance corpses will become available to everyone after 3 minutes are up
PVP looting will not be affected by this change
Example:
- The Dark Father (loot table: 2011 gold, 12 items)
  - Player A 670 gold 4 items (Notice player has a chance of receiving up to 1/N of the total items)
  - Player B 670 gold 3 items (Notice however players will not always receive the full amount of the 1/N items )
  - Player C 670 gold 4 items (Notice gold will always be split evenly)

Holiday Gifts 2004

Each player character during the holiday season will receive a random colored gift box. Note: characters must be 30 days or older to be eligible for holiday gifts.

Combat Fixes/Tweaks

Changed War Mode Toggle delay to one second.
Fixed curse bug (spells that take away strength were redundantly taking away hit points as well; therefore, reducing hit points too much).
- Fixed strength buffing bug (spells that increased strength were redundantly increasing hit points as well; therefore, increasing hit points too much).
Added delay on remounting after using dismount special maneuver (same delay as bolas).
Added delay on remounting after using dismount special maneuver or bolas for faction horses.
Removed damage penalty for distance with hit area effects.
Fixed "Target cannot be seen. Try again." bug for the Energy Vortex spell.
Fixed line of sight targeting bug with the Blade Spirits spell.
Fixed using the last charge of a poisoned weapon always hitting with level one poison.

General Fixes/Tweaks/Enhancements

Increased allowed # tiles away from pet when bandage healing completes to 2.
Mouse over now works only for your backpack. Item properties will not be shown on other people's backpacks.
Fixed The Taskmaster Artifact from no longer appearing as a mace weapon.
Hearth of the Home Fire will now have animating fire.
Changed runebook weight from 3 stones to 1 stone.
Fixed GGS skill gain by removing chance to learn check if appropriate time has passed for a GGS gain.
- Documentation on GGS can be found here: http://guide.uo.com/skill_52.html
Fixed misspelling of Castle British for recall runes.
Verite and valorite elementals will no longer destroy insured items that are equipped.
Added ettins to slayer repond group

Creature Loot/Fame Adjustments

Increased fame for rotting corpses and ethereal warriors.
Slightly improved loot for ethereal warriors.
Slightly reduced weaker version of solen infiltrator loot.
Meer Eternals will now have a chance to spawn level 5 treasure maps (use to be level 4).
Modified lose loyalty ability that certain creatures possessed and replaced it with a different ability.
- 20% chance to inflict triple damage vs. pet
Fixed spawn chance for swordmanship, magery, musicianship, fencing, and mace fighting magic jewelry.
Added chance to spawn treasure maps for several creatures:
- Ettins (Level 1)
- Evil Mage (Level 1)
- Acid Elemental (Level 2)
- Evil Mage Lord (Level 2)
- Efreet (Level 4)
- Elder Gazer (Level 4)
- Ethereal Warrior (Level 5)
- Removed nonmagical jewelry spawn from Phoenix.

Fishing Tweaks/Enhancements

Removed SOS bottles from Wanderers of the Void in Doom. These Doom Guardians will now spawn with level 3 treasure maps instead (with the rare chance of a level 4 treasure map).
Added variable weight and fisherman's mark on big fish, big fish trophy deed, and big fish trophy. Any big fish caught that is below 20 stones will not display weight or fisherman's mark.
Further tweaks to fishing loot.
Hued level 4 fishing chests white.
Changed Ancient SoS spawn chance from 1 in 40 to 1 in 25.
Give the fabled net thrower (if a GM Fisherman) a 1 in 4 chance of getting a minor artifact (not modified by luck or damage).
If the fabled net thrower doesn't get a minor artifact, but is a top attacker, then perform the normal chance to get a minor artifact modified by luck. i.e., the fabled net thrower won't get two minor artifacts from one leviathan, but will have two chances to get one.

Barding Fixes/Tweaks

Capped barding difficulty at 160.0.
Added Barding Difficulty to Animal Lore gump.
- Barding Difficulty will show up as --- if the creature is completely non-bardable.
Removed all non-bardable flags from Champions of Evil and Doom Bosses, but added no-provoke and no-areapeacemaking flags on them if they use to be noBard or noPeacemaking. However, they can be provoked onto by lesser creatures.
Halved Discordance debuff vs. any creature with a barding difficulty of 160.0.
- Example: a bard with 120 discord normally debuffs a creature by 28%. However, against a creature that has a barding difficulty of 160.0, the bard will debuff the creature by 14%.
Related to Barding, fixed issue where creatures were still highlighting as an aggressor even when area calmed.
Fixed bug where bard in Felucca couldn't provoke his/her own pets or summons onto another hostile creature.
Fixed bug where Discordance was not lowering SE skills.

Paragon Fixes/Tweaks

Slightly reduced Paragon creature maximum speed (was 150, now 125).
Paragons will no longer flee when near death.
Paragon orcs and savages will no longer attack player characters wearing orcish kin masks simply by walking near them.
Paragons will no longer attack stealthing player characters simply by stealthing near them.
Paragon creatures with a barding difficulty = 160.0 after the cap will also have the no-provoke flag. If 160.0 barding difficulty paragons are discorded, their barding difficulties will be lower while discorded. Therefore, they can be directly provoked while they are discorded.
Fixed issue where paragon shadow wisps would attack good or neutral players.

Minor Artifacts

Made some minor artifacts leviathan only, treasure hunter only, and paragon only.
Added new minor artifacts to testcenter bank boxes (see below).
- Ghost Ship Anchor (Leviathan only)
  - Anchor
- Heart of the Lion (Paragon and Treasure Hunter only)
  - Platemail Tunic
  - Luck 95
  - Defense Chance Increase 15%
  - Physical Resist 15%
  - Fire Resist 10%
  - Cold Resist 10%
  - Poison Resist 10%
  - Energy Resist 10%
  - Mage Armor
  - Lower Requirements 100%
- Cold Blood (Treasure Hunter only)
  - Cleaver
  - Swing Speed Increase 40%
  - Cold Damage 100%
  - Mana Increase 6
  - Hit Point Increase 6
  - Stamina Increase 6
- Seahorse Statuette (Leviathan only)
  - Emits dolphin sounds when locked down in house
  - Five different hues
  - Wrath of the Dryad (Paragon only)
  - Gnarled Staff
  - Hit Mana Leech 50%
  - Hit Lightning 33%
  - Hit Chance Increase 15%
  - Damage Increase 40%
  - Poison Damage 100%
- Pixie Swatter (Paragon only)
  - Scepter
  - Fey Slayer (see below)
  - Fire Damage 100%
  - Fire Resist 12%
  - Energy Resist 12%
  - Swing Speed Increase 30%
  - Hit Poison Area 75%
  - Use Best Weapon Skill
- Notes about Fey Slayer item property
  - Opposition to Fey are Demons
  - The Fey slayer item property affects all wisps, centaurs, pixies, unicorns, ethereal warriors, kirins, treefellows, Oaks and Silvani.

Ultima Online: Samurai Empire

2004-11-17T01:23:00.000-08:00

It's finally here, released and is as fun as ever!

Check out Samurai Empire

Discover an empire in the newest expansion pack to the worldwide phenomenon Ultima Online. Journey to a land of exotic monsters, dramatic landscapes, and fierce but noble warriors. Become a Samurai and learn new skills like Honorable Execution and Lightning Strike, or join the ranks of the Ninja elite and master the deadly arts of Mirror Image and Smoke Bomb. If you choose, you can set down roots in this new land and build a home with new Japanese-themed building options. Expand your legacy in a game world like no other, Ultima Online.

Ultima Online: Samurai Empire marks a new era in the legendary online RPG as it expands to include a new exotic land to explore and two deadly professions to master... (read more)

Died In Deceit

2004-09-25T23:27:00.000-07:00

Tonight I died at the hand of a Mummy. Actually I was being double teamed. Had to run around the entire snow-sovered Island and ended up being rezzed by a traveling gypsy caravan.

7th Anniversary gift code were sent out, and I chose the Holy Sword - which is what I was testing out it's Undead Slayer stats on Mummies, but due to lag I died.

Moonlight Casino For Drinks & Dice

2004-07-05T22:23:00.000-07:00

I rode into Jhelom, under the cover of night. It was a long ride from Minoc and I hadn't eaten for days. I was holding a torch, soaking wet, and I needed to smoke.

I held my torch high as I rode up to Bishop the Tinker to grab a sextant.

My destination?

$Moonlight Casino$
Shard/Facet/Sextant Coordinates: Atlantic, Trammel, 86º 18' N, 33º 28' E

I gated to Minoc and rode hardthrough the night storm and went as far as I could for the night. I stopped for rest at the tower-triple crossroad front where the three roads meet and a gypsy cravan had taken camp for the night. I decided to stop and have some ale as I healed the wounds I got from a band of wandering thieves hiding in the storm. I was ambushed and cornered, five of them attacked at once and I was not holding a weapon. I kept riding and stopped at the crossroads for a break.

Coordinates for crossroads: 71º 48' N, 51º 45' E

Well, Upon finding it, it wasn't open at the time but I did stay for a few ales and a quite a few smokes while the rain storm pounded throughout the night.