Booster Pack

UO Producer’s Letter – May 2011

by

UO’s Producer, Calvin Crowner, has posted a new Producer’s Letter today. I am very happy about this and the video update (see the story after this). I would like to see these every month and I have a feeling that we might see them every month.

This is much better than some of the communication we’ve received in the past.

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.

I don’t have much else to say since I’m reserving my comments for the video, but this is a good direction for UO and the developers to take in regards to communicating with players.

New Magincia Bazaar aka the Encampment System

by

The official information about the upcoming New Magincia Bazaar, which has been renamed the Magincia Encampments, was released a few days ago.

You can visit the official website and download a PDF of the information, however UO Guide has put together an online reference page for the Encampment System.

Keep in mind that this maybe a part of the upcoming booster packs and some if it might require the purchase of one or both booster packs. That is subject to change. Language within the client files indicates it will require the purchase of a booster pack.

Here’s a brief bit of information from the PDF (which UO Guide assembled into an online guide):

The New Magincia Bazaar is a dynamic new center for commerce that offers buyers and sellers alike the opportunity to trade in extraordinary new ways.

The Bazaar of New Magincia consists of 50 stalls that will be leased for one week at a time by prospective merchants. These stalls are available to renters for commerce. The Bazaar Authority keeps expert brokers on staff, who are available for hire by those leasing stalls in the bazaar. These brokers act on behalf of the stall renter to buy and sell merchandise. Brokers are of two types: Animal Brokers, and Commodity Brokers.

Animal Brokers will take possession of pets and sell them at a price determined by the owner, charging a small commission for each sale, plus a small percentage commission on the sale price of unsold inventory. Prospective customers will be able to preview animals for sale in specially designed pens, and see their vital stats.

Commodity Brokers are able to both buy and sell commodity items for their employer. They work on commission similarly to Animal Brokers: they receive a small percentage of each purchase or sale, and they charge a percentage commission on all sale-able inventory.

I would highly recommend visiting the UO Guide page linked above, as it’s the easiest way to view the information online. I’m not going to restate the information here, although I’ve posted several stories in the past about it.

Publish 70.04 Live on Test Center 1

by

Kai Schober posted the following yesterday:

Greetings,

Publish 70.4 will be available on Test Center 1 today. You can find the publish notes below.

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.

Rustic Theme Pack
* Topiaries – goblin and llama – Entitled players can use clippers on a hedge and get the choice of a topiary
* Rustic Bench- Craftable
* Raised Garden Bed – a maintenance free garden bed to place your seeds in and walk away. No potions or daily care needed. There will be a reward giver set up in New Haven so you can get this item.
* Distillery – Craftable – Have a drink or two and tell us what you think.
* Board and Batten wall tiles – Housing Customization tool
* Access to the Encampment System – Commodity Broker or Pet Broker – Additional documents will be posted to explain this feature

Gothic Theme Pack
* Gargoyle Statues – Craftable
* Ritual Table – Craftable
* Chest of Sending – You can send anything in your house to the bank if the chest is locked down . There will be a reward giver set up in New Haven so you can get this item.
* Advanced Training Dummy – Craftable – Will train your weapon skills to 60.
* Gothic Wall Tiles – House customization tool
* Access to the Encampment System – Commodity Broker or Pet Broker – Additional documents will be posted to explain this feature

There you have it.

A lot of this we have seen in bits and pieces in previous client patches, without the formal mentions, or we’ve had to poke through client artwork and client text strings.

For previous stories and earlier artwork:
* Ultima Online Client Patches 7.0.13.3 and 4.0.13.3 (Spoilers)
* UO Producer’s Update – Enhanced Client, Story Arcs, Ter Mur, New Magincia, Vendor Bazaar
* More New Content Revealed – Booster Content, Plus Ter Mur
* Publish 70 – New Housing Tile Sets – Gothic and Board and Batten, Virtue Tapestries (Pictures)
* Classic Client: 7.0.13.2, Enhanced Client: 4.0.13.2 – Advanced Training Dummies, Rustic Benches, One More Housing Tile Set

The big question that is left is how much these will sell for. If they individually sell at the same price as High Seas sold at, there will be a problem. If combined, they sell for the same price as High Seas, then that’s another story, and it’s an interesting move. I believe that this will be the last of the true booster packs we see for a while, as they begin work on the Enhanced Client and artwork/asset updates, as well as the New Player Experience. It would be disappointing if they had to continue working in booster packs as it would slow down other areas of work that need to be done, including the ones I just mentioned.

I would rather they work on the long-term areas that need work over the next six months to a year, such as the EC and the artwork updates.

More New Content Revealed – Booster Content, Plus Ter Mur

by

It’s Friday and that means we get more new information about the upcoming Gothic Theme Pack and Rustic Theme Pack from Calvin Crowner, the Ultima Online Producer. We’ve known about these packs for a while, both through text strings that showed up in some of the recent client updates, as well as the entries you see on Ultima-Registration.com when you log in and check your subscriptions, but now we are hearing a little more about what’s included, as well as getting an idea of what they look like.

The images below were posted to UO Herald today and reveal the Raised Garden Bed and the Chest of Sending. I was slightly surprised at the raised garden bed, I thought it might just be a part of the tile set, but it looks like something that maybe deeded. The Chest of Sending, I thought might be related just to the upcoming New Magincia Bazaar, but that appears to not be the case. I like both of them, they are adding just a little more “depth” to the game while not distracting from the bigger picture. There’s also news that these packs will be on the Test Center in the “very near future”, my guess would be at the end of this month or sometime next month. There is also news that Ter Mur is being seriously worked on. Pretty exciting stuff.

The full story from 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!

Restoration of New Magincia, Upcoming Additions to UO

by

A lot has been happening in the world of Sosaria over the past 5 days, so let’s quickly catch up. First off, over at UOHerald.com there are some conceptual drawings of upcoming items that are being added to UO.

These include Goblin and Llama topiaries, along with gargoyle statues.

There is also more information about the distilleries that are being added, that were recently mentioned in the producer’s update:

Due to sometimes less than legal history of distributing liquor throughout the U.S., we have brought a small element into the design of the distillery. There will be one component in its crafting that will require … shall we say a thief’s touch in order to acquire it.

That component will be in lesser supply throughout the world. So keep a thief friend close when the distillery becomes available this Spring.

I’ve got to say that I’m worried about whatever this component will be. It would not go over well to have a system that interests a lot of people and then have some component be in short supply and unavailable to many people. Some on Stratics and elsewhere are bringing up the specter of the Academic Bookcase and that’s a valid concern.

There are systems and deco items in UO that would be used a lot more and by a lot more people if they weren’t such a pain to either acquire or maintain. The Academic Bookcase is one, hitching posts are another. For the love of UO, don’t implement a new system that interests everybody and then make it off-limits to many of those that are interested.