Welcome...to the Shard of the Dead! Submitted by UO_Herald on October 29, 2010 at 4:10 PM CDT Originally posted 29 Oct 2010 15:14:32 EST by James Nichols on the UO Herald: Are you looking for a nonstop banquet of open-world player versus player mayhem? Do you have what it takes to hold onto what’s yours with an iron grip while assassinating your fellow Britannians and laughing at their ghosts? Are you looking for a real challenge, taking on your fellow Sosarians in an epic battle for PvP bragging rights? Well then, make your reservations now! This Halloween, the Ultima Team is proud to bring you the latest in murder and mayhem vacation technology in our revamped resort destination, the Shard of the Dead! In this ultimate retreat from the mortal coil, our guests are encouraged to stick a knife in the back of anyone they can, and to enjoy the lovely grayscale view while spending time as a ghost. Our resort amenities include: All town guards except the ones in Britain have been sent on holiday Dark Towers of Death guarded by hordes of undead minions Glass Swords of Shattering, for one-shot smackdown fun! Accelerated skill and stat gain and one Advanced Character Token per guest Permanent worldwide darkness, as we’ve banished the sun! Kill and death stat tracking. How many can YOU slay? If this sounds like your idea of fun, then look for Shard of the Dead (SOTD) on the UO server list, log in, and let your inner rabid monster come out and play. Some important notes: Shard of the Dead will only run through December to give you a taste of the mayhem. Test Center giveaways and commands are disabled – you start with minimal gold and gear! There are no item insurance or blessings (except spellbooks and runebooks) Dark Towers are near the Virtue Shrines To get a Glass Sword, stand atop a Tower and survive for 30 seconds! Gold in most monster loot drops has been doubled It’s all in good fun, so enjoy it! This is a taste of gameplay not seen in UO for some time. Enjoy and we hope to slay you there...Muahahahaha! [Discuss This Article]

Server Restart: All Shards - 2:00PM EDT Submitted by UO_Herald on October 29, 2010 at 4:08 PM CDT Originally posted 29 Oct 2010 11:56:41 EST by James Nichols on the UO Herald: Update - 2:45PM EDT: Maintenance is complete and all shards are online, welcome back! Greetings, Edited 1:50PM EDT: To resolve and prevent an issue with some servers experiencing stability issues we are restarting all shards for a brief update at 2:00PM EDT. We anticipate all shards to be online by 3:00PM EDT, including Catskill and Legends which are currently offline. We once again thank you for your patience and cooperation. With this maintenance the following change in 68.3 has been removed: Purchasing items while from vendors using funds in a player's bank will now be taken from check form if gold coins are not present in a players bank. [Discuss This Article]

Immediate Maintenance - Catskills and Legends Shards Submitted by UO_Herald on October 29, 2010 at 4:04 PM CDT Originally posted 29 Oct 2010 10:19:29 EST by Andy Belford on the UO Herald: Greetings! We have brought the Catskills and Legends Shards offline for immediate maintenance. At this time we anticipate that both Shards will be back online no later than 2:00 PM EDT. Please be sure to check the Herald for updates regarding this downtime. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your continued support.  [Discuss This Article]

Server Restarts All Shards - 10:00PM EDT Submitted by UO_Herald on October 28, 2010 at 10:27 PM CDT Originally posted 28 Oct 2010 20:01:03 EST by James Nichols on the UO Herald: Greetings! All shards will be restarted tonight at 10:00PM EDT to resolve an issue with this evenings publish. We apologize for this additional inconvenience and expect all shards to be back online by 11:00PM EDT. Thank you for your continued patience. [Discuss This Article]

Publish 68.3 to all Shards - 5:00PM EDT Submitted by UO_Herald on October 28, 2010 at 3:51 PM CDT Originally posted 28 Oct 2010 16:18:00 EST by James Nichols on the UO Herald: Greetings! Publish 68.3 will be released to all shards at 5:00PM EDT today, we apologize for the inconvenience but want to ensure players are able to fully enjoy the Halloween Event. Additionally, Origin will be open once again at the conclusion of the downtime. We estimate the update to be completed by 8:00PM EDT. A full list of notes for this publish are available - enjoy and have a happy Halloween! Publish 68.3   Halloween Event A mysterious merchant has appeared near the Umbra moongate selling treats for hellhounds.  Little is known of his motive, but know that giving treats to hellhounds this time of year is not for the faint of heart! Enjoy trick or treating with the town NPCs!  There are 4 new items that you may get.  Be sure your begging skills are up to the challenge! Live Event There is a new quest giver in Trammel Britain by the moongate.  Visit him to find out how you can get a replica of the Book of Truth. Those who are loyal to the Bane Chosen can visit Trammel Magincia and seek out Miegen  for a quest.  You will need 7500 loyalty with the Bane Chosen to get his quest.Loyalty cap for the Bane Chosen, the Meer, and the Ophidians has been raised to 10,000. 13th Year Anniversary Rewards This year there are various items to pick : White Leather  Dye Tub Railed Display Cases (dbl click the case to remove it and replace it) 3 Styles of Grandfather Clocks (chime on the hour) 4 New Cermanic Pots To read the full article on the forums, click HERE.

Immediate Maintenance - Origin Shard Submitted by UO_Herald on October 28, 2010 at 3:49 PM CDT Originally posted 28 Oct 2010 10:58:58 EST by James Nichols on the UO Herald: Greetings! We are aware of an issue in which players are unable to access the Origin Shard. Due to this we are bringing Origin offline immediately to investigate the cause. We apologize for the short notice and are working to have the server back online as soon as possible. We'll provide any additional updates or information here, thank you for your patience. [Discuss This Article]

Immediate Maintenance - Origin Shard Submitted by UO_Herald on October 28, 2010 at 3:48 PM CDT Originally posted 27 Oct 2010 10:32:17 EST by James Nichols on the UO Herald: Update - 11:00AM EDT: We have resolved the issue and Origin is back online, thank you. Greetings! We are currently aware that players are unable to access the Origin shard. We are working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible, currently there is no ETA. Thank you for your patience, additional updates will be made available here throughout the downtime. [Discuss This Article]

Publish 68.3 Released to Origin - Today! Submitted by UO_Herald on October 26, 2010 at 4:35 PM CDT Originally posted 26 Oct 2010 17:04:24 EST by James Nichols on the UO Herald: Update - 6:00PM EDT: While we did not previously provide an ETA we wanted to inform players that we anticipate downtime for Origin to last up to two additional hours (8:00PM EDT). We appreciate your patience while we deploy this publish, thank you. Greetings! We are pleased to announce to release of Publish 68.3 to Origin today at approximately 5:00PM  EDT , below you can find out what's new - thanks and have fun. Publish 68.3   Halloween Event A mysterious merchant has appeared near the Umbra moongate selling treats for hellhounds.  Little is known of his motive, but know that giving treats to hellhounds this time of year is not for the faint of heart! Enjoy trick or treating with the town NPCs!  There are 4 new items that you may get.  Be sure your begging skills are up to the challenge! Live Event There is a new quest giver in Trammel Britain by the moongate.  Visit him to find out how you can get a replica of the Book of Truth. Those who are loyal to the Bane Chosen can visit Trammel Magincia and seek out Miegen  for a quest.  You will need 7500 loyalty with the Bane Chosen to get his quest.Loyalty cap for the Bane Chosen, the Meer, and the Ophidians has been raised to 10,000. 13th Year Anniversary Rewards This year there are various items to pick : White Leather  Dye Tub Railed Display Cases (dbl click the case to remove it and replace it) 3 Styles of Grandfather Clocks (chime on the hour) 4 New Cermanic Pots To read the full article on the forums, click HERE.

Player Notice - Access to High Seas Content May Be Unavailable Submitted by UO_Herald on October 26, 2010 at 2:09 PM CDT Originally posted 26 Oct 2010 08:17:18 EST by James Nichols on the UO Herald: Update - 12:00PM EDT: This issue has been resolved, if you are currently logged in and unable to access the content you may need to exit and restart the game to correct the issue. We thank you for your cooperation and patience, have fun! Greetings! We are currently aware of an issue in which players who have purchased and own the new High Seas booster pack are unable to access the content. We are aware and actively looking into the issue. Not all players are affected and some reports indicate that restarting your client may resolve the issue. We apologize for any inconvenience caused and will provide additional information when it is available, thank you. [Discuss This Article]

Test Center Update - Publish 68.3 Submitted by UO_Herald on October 22, 2010 at 4:02 PM CDT Originally posted 22 Oct 2010 15:39:04 EST by James Nichols on the UO Herald: Greetings! The following changes will be available on Test Center 1 for you to check out this weekend. Please note that TC1 will be brought offline at 4:00PM EDT for the update, thank you. Publish 68.3 Saltpeter is now a mineable resource Can be mined in dungeons and on a boat Players will occasionally uncover niter deposits when mining for ore Frequency of discovery and size of deposits depends on mining skill and luck Mine the niter deposit to obtain saltpeter Niter deposits will decay over time if not mined New Rare Crab and Lobster Trophy’s Enchanted and Legendary Crabs and Lobsters can now be turned into trophy’s via the Taxidermy Kit. Bug Fixes Made a channel in the sea market so boats can get in and out a little easier.  This will be marked by bouys. Fixed an issue with not being able to access cargo holds while the boat is moving You will no longer be able to cast field spells on stairs Players will no longer be able to scuttle a ship in Trammel If you are a ghost on a scuttled ship you can now debark your ship to your last valid terrain location by using the mooring lines. Cannon ammunitition will no longer lose its price or reset the price of a container on server maintenance on your vendor. Players now have a 100% chance to get sand when mining for this resource. Purchasing items while from vendors using funds in a player's bank will now be taken from check form if gold coins are not present in a players bank. Pirate boats will no longer continue to fire their cannons after the captain and crew are dead. Players will no longer be able to kill captured Pirates. All fishing will now act like every other resource gathering in the game. If an area is fished out you will get a message stating so. Swing speed for Throwing weapons has been corrected you will now be able to reach 1.25s. Saltpeter is now traded as a commodity, with unlimited availability but subject to price adjustment. Shopkeepers will now buy back commodities at 75% of their asking price, instead of never offering more than the base price. Commodity deeds may now be filled from a boat hold. Commodity deeds may be redeemed in a boat hold, if the contents of the deed will fit in the hold. [Discuss This Article]

Council of Mages Faction Commanders Meeting on TC1 - Saturday, 10/23/10 Submitted by UO_Herald on October 20, 2010 at 8:59 PM CDT Originally posted 20 Oct 2010 18:06:18 EST by Calvin Crowner on the UO Herald: At this stage in the current Live arc, it’s important we share some information about the future location of the Council of Mages. Mesanna and Uriah will be on TC1 this weekend, Saturday October 23rd, at 1400 hours EST (that’s 2 in the afternoon on the East Coast).We will cover the relocation of the CoM factions base and the impact it will have on the current story arc. Also, we will field questions specifically on the live arc. If you are unable to attend, please have a representative available in your place. We recommend attendance, thank you! [Discuss This Article]

Publish 68.2 Notes - 10/15/10 Submitted by UO_Herald on October 15, 2010 at 5:58 AM CDT Originally posted 14 Oct 2010 20:56:38 EST by James Nichols on the UO Herald: Greetings, The following changes will go live during tomorrows daily maintenance, thank you! Publish 68.2 Bug Fixes Increased the chance to get fishing power scrolls. Quests breaks down to the following: under 80 for shallow water fish, over 80 for deep sea fishing, over 106 for dungeon fishing Fishmonger Quests are now properly removed from the quest journal Resolved an issue with players not receiving the fishing crate when you accept a Fishmonger quest. Fixed the issue with players not being allowed access to the hold of Pirate/Merchant ships in Trammel. Ship control no longer takes up a pet slot. [Discuss This Article]

Publish 68.1 Notes - 10/14/10 Submitted by UO_Herald on October 14, 2010 at 12:08 AM CDT Originally posted 13 Oct 2010 17:39:24 by James Nichols on the UO Herald: Greetings! The following changes will be made during tomorrows daily maintenance, thank you. Publish 68.1 Bug Fixes Pirates will no longer be deleted off player boats when the pirate boat decays Dead players can now interact with the plank of the legacy ships. Players can now dry dock row boats in deep water and from other ships Fishmongers will no longer bark debug barks. Compassion Sage potions will work correctly now.  You MUST log out and back in with the potions in your backpack for the potions to work correctly. You can now use Sacred Journey to recall from the ships rune and runebook. Navery will now receive the correct damage from the fallen rocks. Default in the Runebooks will no longer be reset Adding 2 alchemist to the docks where you can find the fishmongers.  (This will be manually done tonight) [Discuss This Article]

Rise of the Scalis Pt. 2 Submitted by UO_Herald on October 14, 2010 at 12:06 AM CDT Originally posted 13 Oct 2010 17:37:45 by Dan Youakim on the UO Herald:             "...a mast."             Abram was startled from his sleep as the words appeared in his mind. The old sailor, shielding the gaze of his one eye as he fixed it upon his younger shipmate, struggled a moment to realize what was said.             "A mast?" Adrenaline now coursed through Abram's veins. The two seaborne scavengers had left port in Nujel'm almost a week ago. Adrift in the Britannian sea onboard an unsuitable scow, the thought of ending this job was almost too much for him. They had managed to deal for the last known location of a derelict, the Cirein, the lone survivor of which having died just days before. Under Britannian maritime law, this makes the cargo of the lost ship very valuable to the first crew that claims her. To read the full article on the forums, click HERE.

Rise of the Scalis Pt. 1 Submitted by UO_Herald on October 12, 2010 at 6:11 PM CDT Originally posted 12 Oct 2010 18:36:31 by Dan Youakim on the UO Herald: A letter to the King of Akalabeth, recovered from the Lyceum archive, author unknown Estimated date of writing: 30 years pre-Britannia To my liege and King, Your Majesty, with my revered obedience, It is with great ire and revulsion that I cogitate upon the actions of Fawn's merchant navy, and great fear toward what yet may come as consequence. This, of course, being of no fault of His Majesty the King, but of my own abhorrence for the grievous brutality exhibited by these maritime merchants several years ago. Witnessing the fate of Mr. Nelson shall forever haunt me. To read the full article on the forums, click HERE.

Producer's Update - 10/12/10 Submitted by UO_Herald on October 12, 2010 at 6:08 PM CDT Originally posted 12 Oct 2010 18:25:27 by Calvin Crowner on the UO Herald: We are continuing to monitor the boards as publish 68 continues. Here are the immediate items discovered in today’s publish and have been updated. Simply log out and patch your client for the following fixes: Players experiencing lag with housing Tokuno ship dropping cannons (will be fixed during daily maintenance) Dismounting a horse creates an additional horse In other news: I know players are having problems logging in to the UOGamecodes site. The trouble is one of traffic, but we are also having our network operations looking at our side for login server issues for player accounts. They have rebooted the server controlling logins, and will continue to monitor the service as the traffic continues. Also, stay tuned for: High Seas Fiction – we have some amazing player fiction to share with you in two parts. Part I will immediately follow this post. Updates to the Live Arc – If you participated in the Invasion at Yew Prison this weekend share what you may have learned with other players.  Magincia is about to have a subtle makeover … Return to Britannia ends tomorrow morning.  Anniversary items are done, tested, and will be released in the next few days. High Seas Helpful Hint: You may not dry-dock your ship with a pirate binding pole (from one of the bounty quests) on the deck. If you need to dry-dock your boat quit the quest and the binding pole will disappear. GDC Interviews: While at GDC last week, I was privileged to meet some fantastic folks from MMORPG.com, Massively, Gamasutra, Zam, and Gamebreaker TV and Curse.com See you on the boards. [Discuss This Article]

Welcome to the High Seas! - Publish 68 Notes Submitted by UO_Herald on October 12, 2010 at 10:30 AM CDT Originally posted 12 Oct 2010 10:16:49 by The Ultima Online Team on the UO Herald: Welcome to Ultima Online: High Seas! With the release of High Seas (Publish 68) we have a number of changes and new features being introduced. Below we have provided notes both for features included in the purchase of the booster pack as well as those that benefit all current players. Thanks and have fun, The Ultima Online Team To read the full article on the forums, click HERE.

Prepare to Board! - High Seas Update All Shards 10/12/10 Submitted by UO_Herald on October 11, 2010 at 11:30 PM CDT Originally posted 11 Oct 2010 23:56:32 by James Nichols on the UO Herald: Greetings! On Tuesday, 10/12/10 at 10:00AM EDT all shards will be brought offline to prepare for the release of Ultima Online: High Seas. We anticipate the update should be completed by 2:00PM EDT. Patch notes will be made available tomorrow during the update, for a list of features and where to buy the High Seas booster pack please click here. Continue reading below for important information about this update. Things you need to know:    - In preparation for publish 68 we are recommending all players who are pre-positioning around the sea market area remove your boats. Move them or lose them! - There will be a follow up publish in the near future to add 13th year Anniversary items, additional fixes for the live game as well as a push for the live story arc. To read the full article on the forums, click HERE.

Ultima Online: High Seas Submitted by UO_Herald on October 11, 2010 at 11:27 PM CDT Originally posted 11 Oct 2010 19:10:54 by The Ultima Online Team on the UO Herald: Yarrr! Prepare yourself for adventure when Ultima Online: High Seas sets sail October 12, 2010 For $14.99 USD, players will enjoy: Brand new NPC Ship Combat with enhanced ship-to-ship combat and damage states Bank/Character Storage Increase, Sea Markets, new fish, fishing buffs, and recipes, paintable boats, Level 7 Treasure Chests and new boss encounters: the Scalis and Corgul the Soulbinder All new ship combat! Features include new ship to ship combat,  ship weapons and ammunition, and NPC Ship Combat (Pirates and Merchants) New ship types, Tokuno, Orc, and Gargoyle with customizable hues. New cannon types and ammunition! Buy it today! Ultima Online™: High Seas™ is now available  via digital download* from the following sites: * After purchasing High Seas, consumers will receive a retail registration code to be entered into the account center at: https://account.ea.com/myacct/uo/uo-hub.jsp?skin=uo [Discuss This Article]

Ultima Online GDC Online Hall of Fame Video Submitted by UO_Herald on October 8, 2010 at 5:50 PM CDT Originally posted 08 Oct 2010 18:40:26 by James Nichols on the UO Herald: Ultima Online received the inaugural Hall of Fame Award at the Game Developer's Conference. Take a stroll down memory lane with us as we celebrate Ultima Online and it's rich heritage: Voices of Ultima - GDC Online Hall of Fame Video [Discuss This Article]

FAQ Friday #04 - 10/08/10 Submitted by UO_Herald on October 8, 2010 at 5:47 PM CDT Originally posted 08 Oct 2010 17:59:36 by James Nichols on the UO Herald: Greetings! Welcome to FAQ Friday - Where we've collected together answers to Frequently (and sometimes not so frequently) Asked Questions within the community. Want to see your question up here? We select questions from UO Stratics and UO Forums, so head over to your favorite forum community and post your question - we might answer it in a future post! Please keep in mind that these won’t always address major topics of conversation, this is simply another way of sharing info about the game that won’t necessarily make it into a Producer’s Update or patch note. Thanks, and have a great weekend! To read the full article on the forums, click HERE.

Ultima Online Receives Inaugural Hall of Fame Award - GDC Online Submitted by UO_Herald on October 8, 2010 at 2:22 PM CDT Originally posted 07 Oct 2010 18:02:09 by Calvin Crowner on the UO Herald: At the time you read this Ultima Online will have received the inaugural Hall of Fame Award at the Game Developer’s Conference at the birth place of Ultima Online: Austin, Texas. It’s been an amazing, humbling, inspiring, and fulfilling week. I am thankful to be part of an amazing team, but more importantly I’m humbled by the experience and force that helped shape an industry … before there WAS an industry. This Hall of Fame Award is not just about the developers. It’s not just about the fans or community. It’s not just even about the duration of time that this game has lasted. It’s about the story of all those things combined. It’s those moments at 2 a.m. when you can’t believe you’re still playing. It’s about vengeance for a PK. It’s that immediate connection, or the widening eyes from every interviewer I’ve met who just wants to share an experience … before the launch of the first shard. Ultima Online is all about storytelling. Every player past and present, or each developer current or past has contributed to the story. Every person who has written code, fiction, or lead an event, sabotaged another guild, or made an appointment to meet your later-to-be spouse for the first time, are all parts of what make this world legendary. On behalf of the creators at Orgin, the current devs and developers past , every QA, community manager and CSR to every EM, seer, fansite, modder and moderator or person who has poured their time and creativity into this experience … Thank you. [Discuss This Article]

High Seas Open Test Has Ended! Submitted by UO_Herald on October 7, 2010 at 3:14 PM CDT Originally posted 07 Oct 2010 15:01:57 EST by James Nichols on the UO Herald: Greetings! The Open Test for High Seas has ended and Test Center 9 will be closed shortly. We would like to thank everyone for their participation and feedback during this test, it has been invaluable in making High Seas a Booster Pack for all to enjoy - So prepare yourselves matey's and get an little Arrrr'n'Arrrr as we make ready to set sail next week! Please Note: With the conclusion of this Open Test, Test Center 1 will be re-opened to all players, thank you. [Discuss This Article]

Producer's Update 10/01/10 - New High Seas Test Publish & More Submitted by UO_Herald on October 1, 2010 at 5:43 PM CDT Originally posted 01 Oct 2010 17:48:50 by Calvin Crowner on the UO Herald: From the desktop: High Seas Test Server Published: I will apologize now for using the term “beta” in regard to the booster pack we are releasing. The better term would have been “Open Test.” The server is called “High Seas test.” During the time of test we’ve released updates during maintenance cycles, and at the time you are reading this we have a planned publish that addresses: Boat movement and graphics glitches Ship access and ship hold sizes Fishing Quests Ship parking Ship combat balance and other features You can read about the update and also see the publish notes [here] A few of you understand this is an elongated cycle on a Test Center before going live October 12th for Publish 68.  We will continue to take player feedback and update you on the High Seas forums. Also, a sample of the High Seas key art can be seen [here]. To read the full article on the forums, click HERE.

FAQ Friday #3 - 10/01/10 Submitted by UO_Herald on October 1, 2010 at 5:19 PM CDT Originally posted 01 Oct 2010 17:39:55 by James Nichols on the UO Herald: Greetings! Welcome to FAQ Friday - Where we've collected together answers to Frequently (and sometimes not so frequently) Asked Questions within the community. Want to see your question up here? We select questions from UO Stratics and UO Forums, so head over to your favorite forum community and post your question - we might answer it in a future post! Please keep in mind that these won’t always address major topics of conversation, this is simply another way of sharing info about the game that won’t necessarily make it into a Producer’s Update or patch note. Thanks, and have a great weekend! To read the full article on the forums, click HERE.

New Fiction! - Joy and Rain Submitted by UO_Herald on October 1, 2010 at 7:15 AM CDT Originally posted 30 Sep 2010 16:43:29 by Calvin Crowner on the UO Herald: *   *   * A cooling wind had settled over the courtyards and archery buttes.  The matriarch and steward of Britannia unrolled the freshly deliver parchment with unveiled adoration. Breaking the wax seal of farmer’s plowshares, Dawn was careful not to tear the edges.  The sun dimmed behind darkening clouds, and her heart lifted with the contents of the correspondence as well as the promise of rain. Dawn smiled reading the slow, deliberate hand of her husband’s handwriting.  The letter lifted her spirits as always. She had packed sparingly, knowing her visit back to the shared homestead would be a brief but welcome break. To read the full article on the forums, click HERE.