May 2011

Talents of Sosaria Gallery Submitted by UO_Herald on May 31, 2011 at 6:41 PM CDT Originally posted 31 May 2011 13:51:49 EST by Kai Schober on the UO Herald: Greetings, As you might remember, we have announced the Talents of Sosaria at the end of April and so far we have collected some amazing artworks. Now it’s time to share the first of them and we’ll do so by releasing one per day for the next two weeks. The first picture comes from the shard Drachenfels. Queenie (aka Arow) captured the ‘Assault on Castle British’. Make sure to come back tomorrow for the next picture. You can also find an overview of all artworks as we release them in our dedicated Facebook album. Enjoy! [Discuss This Article]

Your Boat Needs to Dry Dock? Submitted by UO_Herald on May 31, 2011 at 6:26 PM CDT Originally posted 31 May 2011 13:36:34 EST by Kai Schober on the UO Herald: Greetings, Players were having issues with not being able to complete the Fishmonger Quests or not being able to recall to their boat. To stop this from happening to you, please dry dock your boat and you will once again be able to complete the quest. [Discuss This Article]

Oceania servers down Submitted by UO_Herald on May 29, 2011 at 9:44 PM CDT Originally posted 29 May 2011 22:00:29 EST by Rowland Cox on the UO Herald: Update, Monday 30th May, 1.00pm The Oceania servers are back up as normal. Thank you for your patience. Greetings, The Oceania servers are currently down. We are working with our vendor in Australia to bring the service up as soon as possible. We will keep you updated, thank you for your patience. [Discuss This Article]

Developer Q&A, May 2011 Submitted by UO_Herald on May 27, 2011 at 4:56 PM CDT Originally posted 27 May 2011 17:32:21 EST by Kai Schober on the UO Herald: Greetings, As announced in the Producer's Update, here is the Developer Q&A video for May. Follow the link and enjoy 12 minutes packed with information from Calvin and Bonnie. [Discuss This Article]

Producer's Update Submitted by UO_Herald on May 27, 2011 at 4:53 PM CDT Originally posted 27 May 2011 16:36:20 EST by Calvin Crowner on the UO Herald: It’s a beautiful Spring Day in Fairfax before a long weekend … Memorial Day weekend. We have prepared a video to answer some questions about what’s in the pipe for this summer and the rest of the year, so I will not spoil that much here. Nevertheless, I will give you a bit more detail on what to expect … The Ter Mur Story: We’ve been hinting for some time about filling out the Ter Mur areas, and this will be done not in epic style, but on a small scale with lots of detail. The story in itself could be released on its own merit, but it will be distributed in game. This is not about invasion or carnage … it is about sharing a story. Zhah is the focus. She will be going through many challenges, and you will be part of her struggle. Enhanced Client Crashing and commitment to the EC: We have multiple reports of EC crashes. While it’s important that we improve stability, and we are getting some information about steps to reproduce from players, not all are consistent or truly reproducible from our end. So at present we are enhancing our crash logging information, so we can gather more information and take appropriate actions to address the issues. Player Abuse: We are very aware of the escalating cases of abuse in the game over the last few months. We have had problems with our petitioning systems, and have been unable to receive or action some cases as quickly as we’d like to. As an answer our operations team working with CS has developed a new tool to allow our GMs and customer support reps not only to action faster, but to record activity better as well as a functionality to replace lost items. Expect to see the results of this new tool in the near future. Additional High Seas content: In the development of High Seas, we had to remove a sea encounter due to schedule. We have taken the time to add it back, as well as revamping some of the fishing quests and reward items. These changes have been submitted for QA, and we will grind on getting them tested and ready for production after the break. I wanted to keep this brief because there is a beautiful sky outside ... but I have to go check out the worldbuilding for the new zones in Ter Mur. Please, for all of you in the U.S. it is Memorial Day weekend. A time to remember those who gave their lives in service to protect and create the freedoms we often take for granted. So in the traffic, parades, and revelry please be safe. - Calvin [Discuss This Article]

Patch and Publish to TC1 today Submitted by UO_Herald on May 25, 2011 at 3:06 PM CDT Originally posted 25 May 2011 14:17:22 EST by Rowland Cox on the UO Herald: Greetings, We are pushing a patch and a publish to make cliloc changes to TC1 today. Thank you [Discuss This Article]

Magincia Encampments Submitted by UO_Herald on May 20, 2011 at 7:45 PM CDT Originally posted 20 May 2011 16:27:49 EST by Kai Schober on the UO Herald: Greetings, We have uploaded a document which explains the new Magincia Bazaar and the new trade opportunities it offers.. If you want to learn more about Animal Brokers and Commodity Brokers, please read the New Magincia Bazaar pdf. [Discuss This Article]

Character Copy Available Again Submitted by UO_Herald on May 20, 2011 at 3:30 PM CDT Originally posted 20 May 2011 16:03:14 EST by Kai Schober on the UO Herald: Greetings, The issue with missing items reported earlier on Character Copy have been fixed and the option has been turned back on. You can once again copy your characters to Test Center 1. If you have encountered this issue earlier, please start a new character copy. To start a character copy, login with the character you wish to copy and go to a safe logout location such as an inn. Open the help menu and select the “Character Copy” option. Follow the instructions to complete your character copy. [Discuss This Article]

Character Copy Submitted by UO_Herald on May 16, 2011 at 7:57 PM CDT Originally posted 16 May 2011 16:01:15 EST by Rowland Cox on the UO Herald: Greetings, Due to the reported issues, Character Copy is being disabled until further notice. We will have an update for you soon, thank you. [Discuss This Article]

Character Copy Has Gone Live Submitted by UO_Herald on May 13, 2011 at 9:37 PM CDT Originally posted 13 May 2011 16:04:37 EST by Kai Schober on the UO Herald: Greetings! The character copy feature has gone live! This feature will allow you make a copy of your character from any shard that supports transfers to “Test Center 1”. There may be periods of time where this feature will not be enabled due to differences in server versions. To start a character copy, login with the character you wish to copy and go to a safe logout location such as an inn. Open the help menu and select the “Character Copy” option. Follow the instructions to complete your character copy. [Discuss This Article]

Publish 70.04 Available on Test Center 1 Today Submitted by UO_Herald on May 12, 2011 at 3:25 PM CDT Originally posted 12 May 2011 15:06:52 EST by Kai Schober on the UO Herald: Greetings, Publish 70.4 will be available on Test Center 1 today. You can find the publish notes below. At 4:00 pm EDT all servers will be brought offline, we anticipate the shards to be back online by 6:00 pm EDT. We encourage you to check out what's new and thank you for your feedback. Publish 70.4 Please join us on TC1 for a preview of our newest Theme Packs that can be purchased later this month. To read the full article on the forums, click HERE.

Character Transfer Currently Unavailable Submitted by UO_Herald on May 11, 2011 at 3:58 PM CDT Originally posted 11 May 2011 15:01:34 EST by Bonnie "Mesanna" Armstrong on the UO Herald: Due to a reported issue with character transfers we are turning them off until the issue is completely resolved. We plan to open transfer up as quickly as possible and will keep everyone informed of our progress. [Discuss This Article]

HARASSMENT Procedure Submitted by UO_Herald on May 10, 2011 at 6:41 PM CDT Originally posted 10 May 2011 18:11:18 EST by Bonnie "Mesanna" Armstrong on the UO Herald: By GM Acheren Verbal Harassment is almost by definition a frustrating experience for those affected. Unfortunately we continue to see a few mistakes that turn many potentially valid harassment reports into situations we cannot assist with. As your glorious GM overlords we suggest following the steps below to avoid these problems: Do not exchange insults or taunts with the harassing player. This is by far the most common mistake we see. If both parties are involved in harassment or the reporting player instigated the situation then it becomes mutual harassment and a GM will not intervene for either side. Ask the player politely, by name, to stop. For example: "Please stop insulting me Acheren." Stop talking to the player. You may also want to leave the area. Add the player to your ignore list (In Options under Filter Options.) Wait a few seconds and if the harassing player still does not stop then you should immediately report them. Do not wait more than a minute or two after this point to report them and do not log out of the game before reporting them. Open your Help menu, choose "Another player is harassing me", then pick "VERBAL HARASSMENT". You will be prompted to enter some details about who and what you are reporting. Keep this short and to the point. For example: "Acheren will not stop calling my llamas fat". Select the harassing player as a target. There are a number of ways to add targets, the most common methods are "Target Involved Players" which allows you to simply click on the character you wish to report and "Type Names of Involved Players" which allows you to type in the character name even if they are no longer online. You can always include a target, even if the other player has left the area or gone offline. This is the second most common mistake because with no target included the GM cannot see the chat logs and may not even be able to determine who exactly you are reporting. As a result the GM will not be able to investigate your report in any way and your petition will be closed. Disruptive Behavior: Be aware that in addition to the Verbal Harassment policy there is also a seperate Disruptive Behavior policy. Disruptive Behavior applies to the use of Vulgarity, Racism, and Objectionable Content in public chat channels such as the General channel. Unlike Verbal Harassment you do not need to ask players to stop or take any other additional steps prior to reporting this behavior. Unlike the default channels we do not tolerate the use of profanity in public chat channels so for Disruptive Behavior you may simply witness a player using vulgarity a few times in a public channel and skip straight to reporting them. For rather obvious reasons this means you should avoid responding to such players with more vulgarity in those same public chat channels lest you both end up in jail. You may find a great deal of additional information on harassment in the following links: What is Verbal Harassment How Do You Report Harassment Harassment Policy [Discuss This Article]

Continued Efforts for the Restoration of Magincia Submitted by UO_Herald on May 6, 2011 at 9:02 PM CDT Originally posted 6 May 2011 18:15:02 EST by Calvin Crowner on the UO Herald: In this week’s installment of the new items that will be available for purchase soon, we present the Raised Garden Bed and the Chest of Sending. While the chest will be associated with the Gothic Theme Pack, the garden bed will come with the Rustic Theme Pack. The Raised Garden Bed is a maintenance-free gardening plot. Once setup in your garden and seed planted, in seven days you will have a healthy plant you can remove at any time. The Chest of Sending will allow players to send stackable and non-stackable items from their home directly to their bank box. This item must be locked down in your home. In addition, we are gearing up for TC in the very near future. Also, we are putting together the high-level document of the REAL additions to UO that will allow players to fill out the rest of the Magincia Bazaar area. Last not least, please note … the fiction and event timeline for the history of Ter Mur is almost through development approval. We are really excited to reveal the origins of Zhah … and to fill out some of the new areas in Ter Mur. Stay tuned! [Discuss This Article]