November 2012

Essential Maintenance for Atlantic - 12/04 Submitted by UO_Herald on November 30, 2012 at 4:33 PM CST Originally posted 2012 Nov 30 16:20 -0500 GMT by Tim Chappell on the UO Herald: Greetings! We will be bringing the Atlantic shard offline, Tuesday December 4th, at 5:00 am EST (10:00 GMT) for essential maintenance. At this time we anticipate that both shards will be back online no later than 10:00 am EST (15:00 GMT). Please be sure to check the Herald for updates regarding this downtime. [Discuss This Article]

Developer Interview Submitted by UO_Herald on November 30, 2012 at 4:31 PM CST Originally posted 2012 Nov 30 15:00 -0500 GMT by Tim Chappell on the UO Herald: As many of you already know, one of our Event Moderators joined the development team as an Associate Designer. EM Dudley, aka Kyronix, was recently interviewed by UO Forums. The interview is full of some great information regarding his transition from EM to Associate Designer and what it's like joining the Dev team. Head over to UO Forums to check it out. [Discuss This Article]

Essential Maintenance for All Shards - 11/29 Submitted by UO_Herald on November 28, 2012 at 5:05 PM CST Originally posted 2012 Nov 28 21:59 -0500 GMT by Tim Chappell on the UO Herald: Update 3:15 pm EST: The shards are back online Greetings! We will be bringing the shards offline tomorrow, Thursday November 29th, at 2:00 pm EST (19:00 GMT) for essential maintenance. At this time we anticipate that the shards will be back online no later than 4:00 pm EST (21:00 GMT). Please be sure to check the Herald for updates regarding this downtime. [Discuss This Article]

THE YEW TIMES - A Newspaper for Sosaria Submitted by UO_Herald on November 27, 2012 at 3:41 PM CST Originally posted 2012 Nov 27 16:52 -0500 GMT by Tim Chappell on the UO Herald: Written by members of the community Issue 10 WORLD NEWS GRAVESITE PLUNDERED The town guard is looking for information regarding the recent disinternment of a local man's body from the Yew cemetary. Jethro Mctavish had been buried three days prior, and there is no indication that the corpse had been defiled in any way. However, locals are convinced that the responsible party was looking for McTavish's coveted fried turkey recipe which he swore that he'd take to the grave with him. No additional leads have been pursued so far in the case. To read the full article on the forums, click HERE.

Fixes for Publish 79 Submitted by UO_Herald on November 27, 2012 at 3:34 PM CST Originally posted 2012 Nov 27 15:31 -0500 GMT by Tim Chappell on the UO Herald: The following fixes were applied with yesterday's scheduled maintenance: Wall mount add-ons can now be redeeded. You no longer need blackrock to make grapeshot. [Discuss This Article]

Happy Thanksgiving! Submitted by DaKaren on November 22, 2012 at 8:00 AM CST From everyone at the Ultima Online Roleplaying Community to all the staff and players of Ultima online, we wish you a Happy Thanksgiving! Have a safe and tasty holiday!

Holiday Wishes Submitted by UO_Herald on November 21, 2012 at 4:43 PM CST Originally posted 2012 Nov 21 14:13 -0500 GMT by Bonnie "Mesanna" Armstrong on the UO Herald: The UO Team would like to wish everyone a safe and Happy Thanksgiving. The team will be out of the office from November 21st thru November 25th but will be keeping an eye open for any issues that may come up. [Discuss This Article]

Ask & Answer No. 11 Submitted by UO_Herald on November 19, 2012 at 6:05 PM CST Originally posted 2012 Nov 19 21:39 -0500 GMT by Tim Chappell on the UO Herald: In addition to the normal set of Ask and Answer questions this week, there is also an interview! UO Forums did a very informative interview with the Ultima Online producer, Bonnie (Mesanna) Armstrong. There are questions that range from a typical day in the studio to future plans for Ultima Online, so be sure to check it out. UO Auctions Question: The new 15yr Robes are a fantastic addition and reward for players being creative. i'd like to see this bcome more than just a 15yr event. have you ever considered holding art based competitions as well as writing? it'd be nice to see this sort of reward for submitting UO fan art too. (Treasure Seeker) To read the full article on the forums, click HERE.

Publish 79 Comes to All Shards - 11/19 Submitted by UO_Herald on November 16, 2012 at 6:54 PM CST Originally posted 2012 Nov 16 22:28 -0500 GMT by Tim Chappell on the UO Herald: We have staged Publish 79 to be released on Sunday evening, 11/18 during Maintenance for the European servers and Monday morning, 11/19 during Maintenance for the US servers. Please note we are turning housing decay back on when this publish goes live. For your reading pleasure, here are the completed notes: To read the full article on the forums, click HERE.

Ultima Online in Top 100 Submitted by UO_Herald on November 15, 2012 at 2:08 PM CST Originally posted 2012 Nov 15 18:21 -0500 GMT by Tim Chappell on the UO Herald: Once again, Ultima Online has made it to the top! Time recently posted a list of the 100 greatest video games of ALL-TIME and Ultima Online made the list. We are honored to be listed with so many great games and are truly proud of Ultima Online being "The Best of the Best". [Discuss This Article]

Contest Reward Change Submitted by UO_Herald on November 13, 2012 at 5:10 PM CST Originally posted 2012 Nov 13 21:40 -0500 GMT by Bonnie "Mesanna" Armstrong on the UO Herald: Greetings everyone, I wanted to give everyone a heads up that after further review of the reward items for the House decorating contest, I have changed the reward from a Snowman to a hued Reindeer with the text, “Winner of the 2011 Holiday House Decorating Contest”. The reason for the change was due to the fact the snowman was not fitting for such a contest as only the hat and scarf could be hued. [Discuss This Article]

Ultima Online in Top 10 Submitted by UO_Herald on November 13, 2012 at 3:45 PM CST Originally posted 2012 Nov 13 20:37 -0500 GMT by Tim Chappell on the UO Herald: Complex Gaming recently published a list of the best PC games. We are very proud to see that Ultima Online was ranked number 8 of the 50 Best PC Games of All Time! [Discuss This Article]

Ask & Answer No. 10 Submitted by UO_Herald on November 12, 2012 at 4:02 PM CST Originally posted 2012 Nov 12 14:02 -0500 GMT by Tim Chappell on the UO Herald: It is time for another Ask and Answer. This week we received a lot of questions regarding adding features and items to the game. Here are the answers to your questions: UO Auctions From Purple Pixie, Atlantic I totally think the bag with 3 snow and 3 grass tiles will be a miracle to those of us who love to decorate for the seasons and don’t want to go into construction mode and destroy our establishments. I just have one small request of wish for an addition... or even divide it 2x, 2x, and 2x... with sand tiles. We don’t have sand tiles in our house construction AND these could be used for “festive reasons”... not to mention in gardens to show off fancy cacti. Could you please consider adding them? Thanks (Lady Frany Flame) Mesanna: Currently there are not any sand tiles in the same tile format as the grass and snow but I hope to get some good ones in the future *makes note* To read the full article on the forums, click HERE.

So long, a short farewell Submitted by UO_Herald on November 9, 2012 at 4:29 PM CST Originally posted 2012 Nov 09 18:27 -0500 GMT by Kai Schober on the UO Herald: Today is my last day as Community Manager at Mythic. I'll face a new and very exciting challenge from Monday on. It has been great to work on Ultima Online and all other Mythic products for the last 2 years. I met amazing people here in the teams as well as out there among you players. My only regret is that I had to spread my attention over 5 different titles and never had the time to be really dedicated to one of them. But I take a lot of great memories with me. I thank you for being the awesome, annoying, loyal, critic, understanding, demanding community that you are. The support you continue to give UO is really appreciated, and I know I leave the game in very good hands. Until we meet again - thanks for all the fish, and no, you can't haz my stuff. [Discuss This Article]

Holiday Season Contest Submitted by UO_Herald on November 8, 2012 at 11:40 PM CST Originally posted 2012 Nov 08 22:01 -0500 GMT by Bonnie "Mesanna" Armstrong on the UO Herald: It’s the time of the year that everyone gets creative and decorates their homes to reflect their feelings of the holidays. UO would like to announce a Holiday House Decorating Contest. Petra from stratics has been kind enough to help out with gathering and setting up the voting page for the contest. There will be 10 winners total and you as the players will help pick the winners. The rewards will be a special hued talking Snowman and the top voted design will have their house go down in the history of UO by making it a mini house that will be available next year. This time you guys are the judges! Rules 1 entry per account 10 winners total Submit pictures to uocontests@stratics.com Submissions close December 5th, 2012 and Voting closes December 15th, 2012 All entries must have a character name, shard, facet and location All pictures submitted must be in jpg format We look forward to seeing your creative decorations! [Discuss This Article]

BioWare Mythic is now known as Mythic Submitted by UO_Herald on November 7, 2012 at 7:11 PM CST Originally posted 2012 Nov 07 16:09 -0500 GMT by Kai Schober on the UO Herald: In the wake of a new focus our studio has recently changed its name from BioWare Mythic to Mythic. Everything else stays the same - our passionate teams will continue to support and develop our existing titles as well as working on some new and exciting projects. If you want to learn more about our studio, visit our new website, our dedicated Facebook page, or follow us on Twitter @MythicNews. [Discuss This Article]

Publish 79 comes to Origin and Izumo Submitted by UO_Herald on November 6, 2012 at 5:09 PM CST Originally posted 2012 Nov 06 19:42 -0500 GMT by Tim Chappell on the UO Herald: Publish 79 will be on Origin and Izumo after tomorrow’s maintenance. In an effort to get more feedback from all our players, we will be sending publishes to both Origin and Izumo shards. In addition to the Publish 79 notes the following changes have been made: Artifacts obtained from the Exodus Encounter cannot have powder of fortification applied The New Haven Mine has opened on the Southern Edge of the island The trade window will no longer be empty when trading a tamed turkey [Discuss This Article]

Ask & Answer No. 9 Submitted by UO_Herald on November 5, 2012 at 5:21 PM CST Originally posted 2012 Nov 05 20:49 -0500 GMT by Tim Chappell on the UO Herald: In this week's Ask and Answer we have a interesting mix of questions that the developers answered. Here they are for your reading pleasure: UO.stratics Has there been any thought as to letting us use any of the boats in the huge lake in Malas near Umbra, or sail in any of the waters in Ilshenar? (Bazer - Apr 2011) Could rowboats only be allowed in Dungeons, Ilshenar, Ter Mur and Malas? (Basara - October 2012) Will you allow us to use rowboats in dungeons please? There is so much wasted water in like ice dungeon and I need to catch Winter Dragonfish and Blue lobsters so....thats all (Lord Gareth - June 2011) Maybe it would be nice to allow rowboat placement in dungeons? There some dungeons where a rowboat can be handy to fish. Otherwise rowboats don't realy have a good use cause they are slow and have no hold.(Frarc -Mar 2011)I wouldn´t mind rowboats in Ilshenar, Gravewater Lake etc either .... (Ertai Vodalion - Mar 2011) To read the full article on the forums, click HERE.

Essential Maintenance for Europa and Drachenfels - 11/06 Submitted by UO_Herald on November 5, 2012 at 3:42 PM CST Originally posted 2012 Nov 05 16:06 -0500 GMT by Tim Chappell on the UO Herald: Update 11:30 am EST: Europa and Drachenfels are back online. Greetings! We will be bringing the shards Europa and Drachenfels offline tomorrow, Tuesday November 6th, at 7:00 am EST (12:00 GMT) for essential maintenance. At this time we anticipate that both shards will be back online no later than 12:00 pm EST (17:00 GMT). Please be sure to check this post for updates regarding the downtime. [Discuss This Article]

Ultima Gallery Holding Christmas Art Contest Submitted by DaKaren on November 3, 2012 at 11:15 PM CDT From Rupert Avery of Ultima Gallery: In the spirit of Christmas and in anticipation for Ultima Forever, Ultima Gallery is running a Christmas Art Contest. I thought it would be fun to get everyone’s artist vibes going and see what we can get from what I know is a lot of talented Ultima Fans out there! The Brief Draw a Christmas scene with one major character from the Ultima series and their family on Christmas day. This could be the meal, opening presents or anything you think your main character and their family might do on Christmas Day. The scene should include your main character of choice, at least one other member of their family and at least 1 of the 8 Ultima virtues in the form of a symbol, word or played out in the scene you draw. Some examples of characters you could base your scene on are: Lord British Lady British King Blackthorn The Gypsy The Rules The piece of art can be hand drawn or done digitally It cannot be rude, vulgar or include something that is considered not suitable for PG13 One entry per person How to Submit Submissions will be accepted from November 16th until Midnight UK time December 3rd. They will be displayed on Ultima Gallery within a few days of submission ending with no names attached. You can upload your artwork via Ultima Gallery by going to this link Upload Images. You do not have to be registered to upload. When you upload please press the “Set Photo Properties” link to add in the author Name of the picture and a description. In the author section add a name and an email address so that you can be notified if you are a winner.When images are published there will be No Author or Email attached! Voting, Winner, Selection & Prizes Voting will be open around December 6th for 10 days. You can vote by giving your star rating for the submitted artwork which can be found at Christmas Contest Entries. You do not have to be registered to vote. You can only vote once per image but you can vote for more than one image. There will be 3 winners selected from the entries based on the best star rating. If there is a tie breaker A special judge will be called in to make the final decision. No names will be posted with the artwork. The prizes are the choice of 1 of the 8 virtue cards signed by the original artist which have been generously supplied by Ultima Franchise Producer Jeff Skalski. The cards will be posted to the winners by Jeff. Arrangements to be made after the contest. The winners will have their choice of card with 1st place choosing their card first etc. You can view all the virtue cards here Ultima Gallery/ Ultima Forever/ Virtue Cards Any questions please don’t hesitate to ask. If you want to sign up to have your chance at Ultima Forever Beta then head to Ultima Forever Beta Sign up I look forward to seeing everyone's artwork Good Luck everyone!! Rupert Avery [Discuss This Article]

Connectivity Issues to Shard Oceania Submitted by UO_Herald on November 3, 2012 at 12:00 PM CDT Originally posted 2012 Nov 03 17:14 -0400 GMT by Tim Chappell on the UO Herald: Update 3:30pm EDT: Connectivity to the Oceania shard has been restored. We have been informed by our service provider that there are issues with connection to the Oceania shard. The situation is under investigation. Please keep an eye here for further updates. [Discuss This Article]

Shard of the Dead - Top Scores Submitted by UO_Herald on November 2, 2012 at 2:14 PM CDT Originally posted 2012 Nov 02 12:15 -0400 GMT by Tim Chappell on the UO Herald: We would like to announce the top scoring players on the Shard of the Dead this year. Congratulations to all of you! [Discuss This Article]

Publish 79 for TC1 Notes Submitted by UO_Herald on November 1, 2012 at 4:04 PM CDT Originally posted 2012 Nov 01 18:49 -0400 GMT by Tim Chappell on the UO Herald: Publish 79.0.0 New Veteran Rewards 15th Year: Garden Shed House Add-On Contains two secure containers that do not count towards house storage limits Each container holds 125 items with no weight limit The shed has standard house security settings controlling container access To access the containers, stand near the door of the shed and double-click it To read the full article on the forums, click HERE.