December 2011

Sonoma Shard Temporarily Unavailable Submitted by UO_Herald on December 27, 2011 at 4:13 PM CST Originally posted 26 Dec 2011 14:50:32 EST by Rowland Cox on the UO Herald: Greetings, The Sonoma Shard is temporarily unavailable. The team is working quickly to bring the shard back up again. We will have an update for you soon. Thank you for your patience [Discuss This Article]

Happy Winter Holidays! Submitted by UO_Herald on December 24, 2011 at 12:09 AM CST Originally posted 23 Dec 2011 17:06:32 EST by Kai Schober on the UO Herald: The Ultima Online development team and the Community team wish you happy winter holidays and a good start into the New Year. We will take a break and will return to work on January 3rd. The in-game customer support will continue to be available 24/7 throughout the holidays. Have a happy and safe holiday season! [Discuss This Article]

Great Lakes vs. Catskills Treasure Hunt Results Submitted by UO_Herald on December 21, 2011 at 4:59 PM CST Originally posted 21 Dec 2011 11:17:09 EST by Kai Schober on the UO Herald: On Friday, December 9th, The Great Lakes Purple Llamas defeated the Catskills Blue Beetles in the Treasure Hunt Challenge! The competition at Test Center's Nujel'm chessboard was fierce as the newcomer Llamas destroyed the Beetles' hopes of a hat-trick. For much of the match, Catskills was slightly ahead. Great Lakes's bad luck in pulling a swamp map for level four turned out to be good luck for the sixth map, as it brought them back to a familiar area. As the teams returned for the final maps, EM Adris said it was "All down to this final chest!" Catskills found their chest first, Great Lakes a moment later. Catskills went with a tamer split to take down multiple guardians at once, but that left some Beetles searching for a healer. The audience waiting at the chessboard was on the edge of their seats as EM Sangria did a running countdown of the items remaining for each side. Great Lakes returned first, to cheers from the spectators! Pack Rats of Great Lakes said, "Was a close one. Was a good fight." Llewen Faerlyght of Catskills said, "We just had some bad luck. It happens," and promised, "We'll be back." EM Elizabella congratulated both sides on their teamwork. EM Barnaby said, "It was a tight race by two good teams. A couple bad bounces both ways." Members of both teams shook hands and thanked each other for a good battle. EM Malachi summed it up, "This race has shown the spirit of two titan teams." Catskills – Blue Beetles: Dr Sucio, Arwen, Haslehoff, Llewen Faerlyght, and Underpants Gnome Great Lakes - Purple Llamas: Beryl Markham, Cire, Jakob, Of the Gargoyles, and Pack Rats [Discuss This Article]

Account Center Maintenance - 12/21 Submitted by UO_Herald on December 20, 2011 at 4:53 PM CST Originally posted 20 Dec 2011 16:56:04 EST by Kai Schober on the UO Herald: Greetings, We will bring down the Account Center for a short maintenance tomorrow, Wednesday December 21st, at 9am EST (15:00 CET). During the maintenance you will not be able to change subscription, redeem game codes or transfer characters. At the moment we anticipate the Account Center to be back online at 11:30am EST (17:30 CET). Thank you for your understanding. [Discuss This Article]

Reminder: Housing Decay Reactivated in 2012 Submitted by UO_Herald on December 19, 2011 at 9:02 PM CST Originally posted 19 Dec 2011 21:23:02 EST by Kai Schober on the UO Herald: We expect to have housing decay turned on by the beginning of next year. We are going to start giving everyone a warning, this being the second of several you will see. Please take the necessary steps to secure your house before its turned back on. Happy Holidays! UO Team [Discuss This Article]

Christmas Preparations in Full Swing Submitted by UO_Herald on December 18, 2011 at 7:17 AM CST Originally posted 16 Dec 2011 15:02:35 EST by Kai Schober on the UO Herald: How are your preparations for Christmas going? Is your house and your tree already decorated or do you need additional inspiration? If you are looking for a beautiful tree, you should visit Legends and see what Ginger Snap has done: Happy Holidays, The UO Team [Discuss This Article]

Terms of Service Reminder Submitted by UO_Herald on December 14, 2011 at 2:18 AM CST Originally posted 13 Dec 2011 18:21:19 EST by Kai Schober on the UO Herald: We would like to remind our players that the use of 3rd party programs violates our Terms of Service. If you receive a warning for any infraction, it is because you were reported by a fellow player for breaking the ToS. Warnings placed on an account will escalate to suspension if the account commits the same offense repeatedly. The following third party programs are the only ones legal to run: UO Assist UO Auto-Map UO Calculator UO Cartographer  UO Curse Tool UO Journal Converter UO Magic Tool UO Spawn Map UO Wedding Happy Holidays, The UO Team [Discuss This Article]

Account Age Fix Incoming Submitted by UO_Herald on December 8, 2011 at 1:00 AM CST Originally posted 7 Dec 2011 19:22:10 EST by Kai Schober on the UO Herald: We have been working on Account age issues and are happy to say they should be fixed with the account center maintenance tomorrow. If you have any issues please let us know. Happy Holidays! The UO Team [Discuss This Article]

Account Center Maintenance - 12/08 Submitted by UO_Herald on December 8, 2011 at 12:58 AM CST Originally posted 7 Dec 2011 19:02:15 EST by Kai Schober on the UO Herald: Greetings, We will bring down the Account Center for a short maintenance tomorrow, Thursday December 8th, at 10am EST (16:00 CET). During the maintenance you will not be able to change subscription, redeem game codes or transfer characters. At the moment we anticipate the Account Center to be back online at 11:30am EST (17:30 CET). Thank you for your understanding. [Discuss This Article]

December’s Treasure Hunt Challenge – Catskills Goes for the Hat Trick Submitted by UO_Herald on December 8, 2011 at 12:53 AM CST Originally posted 7 Dec 2011 11:04:53 EST by Kai Schober on the UO Herald: After successfully defending their title against Napa Valley, the Blue Beetles of Catskills will face their newest threat – the Purple Llamas of Great Lakes Shard! The following message was sent from the EMs of Great Lakes to their counterparts on Catskills: Let it be known, that the Purple Llamas of Great Lakes throw down the gauntlet of challenge to the Blue Beetles of Catskills. Like an energy vortex, the Purple Llamas will whirl down upon the Blue Beetles with force and speed to claim the Cross Shard Treasure Hunt Trophy! We await the reply of EMs Adris and Barnaby. Catskills was swift in their response: To our Esteemed colleagues and the Great Lakes shard, We have heard your Challenge and are pleased to accept. It will be our pleasure to watch as your vortexes vanish, your fields fizzle, and your Llamantable faction of fuchsia flavored foragers falls short in the face of the phenomenal feats of the fleet-footed Blue Beetles. Your Biggest Fans, Barnaby, Adris, and the Blue Beetles Will the Catskills team manage to win their third straight match, cementing their dominance in this competition, or will they fall to a team of Llamas from Great Lakes? We will find out soon as the Blue Beetles face off against the Purple Llamas in the next match of the Cross Shard Treasure Hunt Challenge! Date: Friday, December 9th Time: 8pm CST, 9pm EST Place: Nujel’m Chessboard, Test Center Shard Spectators are encouraged to come and cheer on their favorite team! Gates will be provided from the New Haven bank prior to and during the event. [Discuss This Article]

Housing Decay Reactivated in 2012 Submitted by UO_Herald on December 6, 2011 at 4:30 PM CST Originally posted 6 Dec 2011 13:06:55 EST by Kai Schober on the UO Herald: We expect to have housing decay turned on by the beginning of next year. We are going to start giving everyone a warning, this being the first of several you will see. Please take the necessary steps to secure your house before its turned back on. Happy Holidays! UO Team [Discuss This Article]

Items and Sale on Origin Store Submitted by UO_Herald on December 6, 2011 at 4:28 PM CST Originally posted 6 Dec 2011 12:22:36 EST by Kai Schober on the UO Herald: Greetings, The EA store Origin is now the place to go when you want to buy codes for Ultima Online; it replaces the old store. To celebrate this transition we are running a 20% off sale for several items in the store until December 14th. Origin currently offers 14 of our most popular items Ultima Online™ 3 Month Game Time Code Ultima Online™ 6 Month Game Time Code Ultima Online™: High Seas Booster Ultima Online™: Stygian Abyss™ (New Account + 30 Days of Game Time) Ultima Online™: Stygian Abyss™ (Account Upgrade) Ultima Online™ Character Transfer Code Ultima Online™ Advanced Character Rechargeable Housing Teleport Tiles Rustic Theme Pack Ultima Online™ Legacy Token Code Ultima Online™ 7th Character Slot Code Ultima Online™ 7th Character Slot and Storage Forged Metal Tool 10 Charges (100% Enhancement) Captain's Bundle We will see more UO items added in the coming months. These include: Gothic Theme Pack Britannia Ship Forged Metal Tool 5 charges WoodWorkers Bench Haochi’s Pigments Pen of Wisdom Undertaker’s Staff Eleventh Year Collection Natural Hair Dye Ultima Online™ Housing and Bank Storage Upgrade Code Head over to the store and and find some stocking stuffers! Happy Holidays! [Discuss This Article]

EA Password Submitted by UO_Herald on December 2, 2011 at 5:44 PM CST Originally posted 2 Dec 2011 19:09:02 EST by Rowland Cox on the UO Herald: If you recently registered at SWOTR.com, the password created there has become your new EA password. It will work for all your EA accounts, so please also use it at the account center for your UO account. Please note your game passwords remain unaffected. [Discuss This Article]

UO Stratics Published Another Developer Interview Submitted by UO_Herald on December 2, 2011 at 5:36 PM CST Originally posted 2 Dec 2011 12:28:55 EST by Kai Schober on the UO Herald: Are you following the QA5 series of mini interviews with the UO Developers and Event Moderators on Stratics? Today the questions and answers with Michael "Phoenix" Moore were published. For those of us who don’t know, what has your “career track” been with the gaming industry? I am what is known as a game systems designer. That means I am primarily concerned with game mechanics and not game content. I don’t normally write quests or populate dungeons with monsters or lay out game maps. I occasionally do those things, but mostly I work with things like combat balance, monster AI, monster and player abilities, crafting, trading, and other such features. My job requires a broad skillset that includes software engineering, spreadsheets, databases, technical and creative writing, and user interface design. I often implement the designs I create. Read the full interview here, or check out the previous ones with Bonnie "Mesanna" Armstrong, EM Emile Layne, Michael “Misk” Armstrong and EM Faine Morgain. [Discuss This Article]

Shard Mizuho Currently Unavailable Submitted by UO_Herald on December 1, 2011 at 7:13 PM CST Originally posted 1 Dec 2011 19:14:54 EST by Kai Schober on the UO Herald: Update 9:45pm EST: The shard is back online. Shard Mizuho is currently not available. Our technical team is working to solve the situation as soon as possible. At the moment they expect the shard to be back online tomorrow around 1am EST (6am UTC). Thank you for your understanding, The UO team [Discuss This Article]

Shard Oceania Currently Unavailable Submitted by UO_Herald on December 1, 2011 at 2:50 AM CST Originally posted 30 Nov 2011 23:33:49 EST by Kai Schober on the UO Herald: Update 1:00 pm EST: The shard is available again. Shard Oceania is currently not available. Our team is investigating the situation and tries to bring the shard back online as soon as possible. Thank you for your understanding, The UO team [Discuss This Article]