Enhanced Client

UO Publish 70.0.5, Client Updates on UO Test Center

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Now that we are moving past the recent Theme Packs publish, we are rapidly moving into something that should appeal to many UO players – work on Stygian Abyss and Ter Mur.

Remember, earlier this year the UO developers said they wanted to move towards shorter, but more frequent events, as well as rounding out Ter Mur, and this looks to be the start of it.

Here are the publish notes:

We are pushing Publish 70.0.5 to TC1 this afternoon and will do a small Client Patch at the same time.

You can find the Patch and Publish notes below:

Publish 70.0.5 – Echoes of the Past – Ter Mur Live Event – Phase 1
We are pleased to announce that the Echoes of the Past event will commence shortly within Ter Mur on all shards. The first phase will begin with a quest provided by Queen Zhah herself in the Royal City Throne Room. This quest will take you to a newly opened piece of Ter Mur, and begin to show a glimpse into the history of the Gargoyle kingdom.

We invite you to take part in this story and help save Ter Mur!

Bug Fixes
* Fixed the issue that stopped players from stealing from monsters
* Fixed an issue with Tinkering

Enhanced Client 4.0.14.5
* Cliloc updates
* Ter Mur world building update

Classic Client 7.0.14.4
* Cliloc Updates
* Ter Mur world building update

Origin gets Publish 70.4, Theme Packs

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Yesterday, Origin received Publish 70.4, which includes the new Mini Booster Packs / Theme Packs:

Today Publish 70.4 comes to the Origin shard along with the Enhance Client Patch 4.0.14.4 and the Classic Client Patch 7.0.14.3. The shard will be unavailable until approximately 7pm EDT.

In the meantime we wanted to share the notes for your reading pleasure, thanks!

Publish 70.0.4
Rustic Theme Pack
Board and Batten wall tiles
Raised Garden Bed
Distillery
Topiaries
Rustic Bench
Commodity and Pet Broker Encampments

Gothic Theme Pack
Gothic wall tiles
Advanced Training Dummy
Chest of Sending
Ritual Table
Gargoyle Statues
Commodity and Pet Broker Encampments

Note: Codes can be purchased at http://www.uogamecodes.com but will not be valid for any shard except for Origin until June 7th.

Bug Fixes
* Players are no longer able to steal from EM’s in Felucca
* Felucca players now have access to the stairs of the building in the hedge maze
* Corroded boxes will now properly highlight and show tooltips when locked down in your house and you customize it
* Ingots will no longer disappear when the player’s backpack is overweight when smelting
* Hell hounds can no longer be turned into Ancient Hellhounds
* Increased the chance to receive copper wire from thieving and a random chance to get it from Pirate Ships
* Pets owned by Faction members will now obey verbal commands given by the pet’s name

Enhanced Client 4.0.14.4
* The Use English Item Names option will now only apply to item properties names
* One line generic gump text boxes will no longer wrap to the next line
* Updated art for the Arcane Circle and the Freshly Picked Rose
* Cliloc updates

Classic Client 7.0.14.3
* Cliloc Updates
* Updated art for the Arcane Circle and the Freshly Picked Rose

UOJournal Note: http://www.UOGameCodes.com does not yet, as of June 2, 2011 1pm Central, have the proper codes/purchasing options up for the new Theme Packs.

From here on out, hopefully we’ll see less theme packs/booster packs and more work on the artwork updates and Enhanced Client.

UO Producer’s Letter – May 2011

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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.

Publish 70.04 Live on Test Center 1

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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.

The Future of UO – April 2011 Edition

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First off, there will be spoilers, but not to the point of me digging around in client patches. Any spoilers you see below were mentioned in the Producer’s Letter.

I’m saving my thoughts about New Magincia for another post, but so far I’m impressed with what I’m seeing on my shard. I really thought it would turn into Luna 2, and I can’t apologize enough for thinking that. I’m planning on trips to all of the shards in coming weeks, but from my own and from a few others, I can say that many people moved to New Magincia with the intent of actually living there. I want to talk about other things though.

When Calvin Crowner posted his Producer’s Letter last week, it gave us a good idea of what to expect over the coming year from UO. I’m going to kind of post my thoughts in the order of the producer’s letter.

Vendor Bazaar
I won’t spoil it too much, but you can dig through the UO Journal archives or just search UO Journal for “vendor bazaar” and you’ll see plenty, but at this point I’m wanting to know how many and where they will be. From what has been said and what has been seen within the client files, I think it’s going to be an interesting system. I wonder how it will play out with people who have bought homes in what people thought would be a vendor-heavy area, who are deliberately resisting putting vendors out.

In the producer’s letter, it was mentioned that a “core feature that will fill out the bazaar will allow players to buy and sell commodities” which leaves me to wonder if the vendor bazaars will not be full vendors, but instead will only be able to sell certain goods – commodities such as reagents, lumber, ingots, and perhaps the various imbuing ingredients. That might just mean no rares, no weapons, or anything of that nature, just things that can fit in the commodity deeds. That strikes me as very interesting. It could very well turn New Magincia into a shipping or a manufacturing hub of sorts, while staying away from the tackiness/gaudiness of Luna. It might also keep runaway prices from happening, like what you see in Luna, since the market would be focused on one type of good – commodities. With a lot of people participating, you might see a race to the bottom of sorts.

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