Notes on Recent Client Update with Publish 70, Booster Pack?

Update: Pictures of Gothic house tiles, Virtue Banners

Somebody asked me to take a look at some of the recent changes contained within the CLILOC files of the Classic Client, that we haven’t seen yet, or haven’t seen fully.

These are taken straight from the client files, with some clean-up work done by me to take into account formatting.

First off, references to Magincia have been changed to New Magincia.

There are also miscellaneous references to:
* Doormats or door mats
* Stone pavers
* Ritual Table

Virtue Tapestries are listed:
* Sacrifice Tapestry
* Spirituality Tapestry
* Honesty Tapestry
* Humility Tapestry
* Justice Tapestroy
* Compassion Tapestry
* Honor Tapestry
* Valor Tapestry

Possible New Housing Tiles:
* Gothic Wall
* Gothic Window
* Gothic Archway
* Gothic Half wall
* Gothic Quarter Wall
* Gothic Window
* Gothic Stairs
* Gothic Half block
* Gothic Block
* Gothic Rose Window

Old description of Magincia:
Magincia – Isle of Riches

Magincia is a fairly small island town known for the incredible wealth that it derives from the sea and from the practice of the magical arts. The city itself is beautiful to behold, with golden streets and majestic architecture. Honest tradesmen do not linger for long upon this isle, however, preferring to pass through the moongate upon its western edge in search of a more pleasing environment.

For those who seek to begin a career in Magincia, however, the city does offer guilds for fishermen and miners, and a modest collection of shops. Little in the way of danger ever finds its way here, but the moongate does offer abundant danger on its other side.

For the visitor, Magincia’s most impressive sites are its Parliament Building and the Temple to the Virtues – even if these are rarely practiced in the city.

Should an adventurer join the ranks of Magincia’s elite and purchase a ship, the docks to the south of the city offer access to the many other islands nearby.

Amenities: Baker, Bank, Counselors’ Guild, Healer, Inn, Jeweler, Magic Shop, Shipwright, Tailor, Tavern, Tinker

New Description, of New Magincia:
New Magincia – Razed and Reborn

New Magincia lies on the spot of what once was fairly small island town known for the incredible wealth that it derived from the sea and from the practice of the magical arts. The city itself was beautiful to behold, with golden streets and majestic architecture. Destroyed by daemons and later rebuilt, now New Magincia is famed for its lush gardens and the New Magincia Bazaar.

For those who seek to begin a career in Magincia, however, the city does offer guilds for fishermen and seafarers. Since its destruction and rebuilding, little in the way of danger ever finds its way here, but the moongate does offer abundant danger on its other side.

For the visitor, the town’s most impressive sites are its Public Gardens and the New Magincia Bazaar.

Should an adventurer join the ranks of Magincia’s elite and purchase a ship, the docks to the south of the city offer access to the many other islands nearby.

Amenities: Bank, Inn, Shipwright, Tavern

Read more

The Beginning of the End (EM/VirtueBane Events Coming Up!)

It’s going to be a busy weekend, with plenty of EM events taking place.

The Virtuebane story arc, In the Shadow of Virtue, is starting to wrap up, with some shards holding EM events tonight and others through this weekend.

For instance, Lake Superior’s EMs have posted this:
The time has come to put an end to all this chaos once and for all! The, hopefully, FINAL push against Virtuebane will occur in but two days! All able bodies are requested to aid in this dire time.

When and where?!?!
Friday, March 25!
7PM Central / 8PM Eastern!
Britain – Castle Trammel!

You probably should check your individual shard forums at Stratics or UO Forums

There is a very nice piece of fiction/back-story to the upcoming event(s) written by EM Drosselmeyer (EM from Chesapeake). The following is just an excerpt, for the full story, see the link at the bottom:

Virtuebane towered over those who had followed him devoutly, his Bane Chosen, as he stood in front of them where they had assembled. They looked to him anxiously and eagerly awaiting his latest commands, curious as to the reason they had all been summoned here. Virtuebane spoke to the gathered in a voice that commanded their full attention, and all other chatter was silenced in a moment.

“Our time is at hand, my chosen! The Britannian’s leader, Queen Dawn, has fallen! They are losing morale, and soon will lose everything! I have promised you all that your faith and your devotion would be rewarded. Are you ready to follow me in this final step towards our victory?”

A resounding chorus of cheers and assent rippled through the vast army of Bane Chosen, the dragon riders rearing their ferocious mounts back on two legs while the hound masters commanded their pets to let out a harmonious howl. The clamor of metal on metal rang through the air as warriors and recruits smacked their weapons along their shields. Virtuebane’s face adopted as wide a grin as his inhuman features would allow.

“You have all been chosen, and your loyalty will now be rewarded! You will serve me in a greater capacity than you could ever have imagined.”

With that, Virtuebane extended his hands and gestured towards his army. At first, it seemed that nothing was happening, but then a change began to take place. Rank after rank of the Bane Chosen found their bodies pulsating with power, their forms seeming to shimmer. Then in a moment of dazzling brilliance, what had been an army of dragon riders, recruits, and hound masters had transformed. Before Virtuebane now stood a vast swath of new troops, completely loyal to their master. Virtuebane gestured with a hand, and the horde of ancient hellhounds all rang out in one voice together. With this task complete, he stalked away to finish his preparations.

Full story: UO Herald

Publish 70 Patch Notes for Origin

The UO devs have been busy working on Publish 70 on the Test Center for the past week, and so some changes have been made as Publish 70 is pushed out to Origin.

I’m only going to list the changes over the Publish 70 notes (linked above):

Magincia Planting System (Changes = bold)

Players are able to plant seeds in grassy areas around Magincia by using a hoe. The players will have to maintain the upkeep of the seeds to keep them healthy. Only the owner of the seed can take care of the plant . The plant will be tagged with the owners name and the date he/she planted it. Players will be able to dig up the plants after they have matured and they will continue to keep the player’s name, the date planted and the date harvested. Players can use the blue crystals to magically advance the growth of a plant in Magincia. You will be able to find 2 Gardeners that will see the hoes needed to plant seeds in Magincia.

Bug Fixes

* The reward weight of the lobsters and crabs has been adjusted
* You can now have your parrots on your Brit Ship without losing it when you move
* You can now place one tile soul forges on your Brit Ship
* Moongate name was changed from Magincia to New Magincia.
* Cleansing Winds will not heal after removing Mortal Wound any longer.

Enhanced Client – 2D Paperdoll mode

* In the enhanced client you can switch to the classic paperdoll for viewing. The option is found under the legacy tab in the settings window.

Read: UO Herald

Notes about Publish 70, Tour, Map of New Magincia, Chance Encounter with Lady Mesanna, No Vendor Search

Publish 70 is now live, and the client patches have been released. The first thing I noticed – a 92MB patch for the EC. This is only part 1 – I’ve got quite a bit more to bring you, but have to step out for a bit. The second thing I noticed, there were no NPC shops, other than the Inn and the Fishing and Shipwright’s guild, plus the bank.

I was lucky enough, along with quite a few others, to run into Lady Mesanna, Associate Producer for UO. Phoenix, the Lead Designer for UO, was also on hand, answering a few questions. Among those answered – there will be a pet bonding gate installed in New Haven, and according to Phoenix, the idea of a way to search vendors has been discussed, but is not currently being pursued.

Ultima Online - New Magincia

For more on New Magincia, which is the focus of this publish, see Map of New Magincia, Housing Details Released. There is a map of all of the plots below. I’m going to have to seriously revise that post, because there is nothing outside of the bank, Fishing Guild, and the Inn. I’m also going to have to seriously redo the Magincia map below because it’s way too busy.

Ultima Online - New Magincia - Housing Lottery Plots

To me, E-3, SW-1, and SE-1 really stand out. E-3 has a great view and SE-1 and SW-1 are probably the best locations for being near everything else.

This is E-3, and it’s also where I ran into Lady Mesanna, who introduced us to Phoenix, the Lead Designer for UO:

Ultima Online - New Magincia

What’s it like to buy a ticket for the lottery? You are buying a ticket for each plot and it looks like you could buy tickets for every single plot.

Ultima Online - New Magincia Housing

Areas that are “Under Construction” look like this:

Read more

Publish 70 on TC1, Classic Client 7.0.13, Enhanced Client 4.0.13

Update: March 31, 2011:
* UO Publish 70 notes – Worldwide Release (April 1, 2011)
*
UO Publish 70 notes – Origin

As of now (3pm Eastern, 2pm Central), most of the shards are down and will be for a little bit.

Yes, it’s that time once again, Ladies and Gentleman, when another Publish is being prepped and pushed out. Now it’s only going to be active on Test Center 1 for now, with a backup of Great Lakes in place. Because of the client updates (mentioned a few days ago), all servers must be brought down and restarted. The Classic Client is being patched to version 7.0.13, and the Enhanced Client to version 4.0.13:

Publish 70.0 will be available on Test Center 1 after 4pm today. You can find the publish notes as well as the notes for the Classic Client 7.0.13 and the Enhanced Client 4.0.13 below. This client patch is mandatory, please make sure that you get it! Be aware that this patch is larger than usual, as we are pushing the last set of missing animation files.

We encourage you to check out what’s new and thank you for your feedback.

The main things of interest is that once the shards are back up, we can test out the New Magincia lottery system for the 22 plots per shard that are located in New Magincia. There appears to be a little work being done on the New Player Experience, but it’s probably related more to veterans starting new characters. You can now select where you want to start rather than just New Haven, although New Haven is the default for Young players.

Full Publish 70 notes:

Magincia Plot Lotto
* There are 22 lots each in both Trammel and Felucca. The island is divided up by North and South end. The North end is the area towards the beach area and these plots are 10K per ticket and you are allowed to buy one ticket per account per plot. The South end is towards the bank and these are 2K a ticket and there are no ticket purchase limits.

Magincia Planting System
* Players are able to plant seeds in grassy areas around Magincia by using a hoe. The players will have to maintain the upkeep of the seeds to keep them healthy. Only the owner of the seed can take care of the plant . The plant will be tagged with the owners name and the date he/she planted it. Players will be able to dig up the plants after they have matured and they will continue to keep the player’s name, the date planted and the date harvested.

Abyss Quest and Monsters
* Added a new quest in the Abyss, this quest will start with Xeninfor the Security Advisor and he can be found in the Royal Palace. We have also added a few new mobs to challenge your fighting talents.

Bug Fixes
* Veteran Reward Statues such as the Efreet, Harrower, Therathan Matriarch and the Fire Ant can now be turned off an on.
* The issue with fish that are fished up by a non High Seas entitled account not having resources was fixed.
* You can now fish up the new fish in Shame level 4 with the correct entitlement.
* You should now be able to obtain the Magic Key for the Puzzle Room.
* Faction Traps were removed from Magincia
* Players having a false reading of having a ship placed should be fixed
* Magic Reflection: A Murderer using magic reflect will be flagged criminal if they reflect the paralyze spell back onto a blue character
* Detect hidden will once again detect everyone. Detect hidden will apply out of hide timer to detected players that are freely aggressable.
* Splintering weapons do not lose max durability allowing them to proc infinity without destroying the weapon
* Players cannot parry when wielding a throwing weapon and a shield.
* Players who were stuck in a state where they were unable to place a new ship will once again be able to place ships.
* Magincia is no longer part of the Factions system.
* Scalis Eels will now last a maximum of 2 minutes
* Both facings of the kabuto can be dyed with the Metallic dye tub.

Enhanced Client – Starting Locations
* Players can now pick what part of the world you would like for your character to begin. You will have the option to start in New Haven if you wish. Young players can start where ever they like but the default will still be New Haven.

Enhanced Client – Bug Fixes
* Trading an item from one using the Enhanced client to another will carry over the item’s position in the old backpack to the new backpack has been fixed.

Classic Client – Starting Locations
* Players can now pick what part of the world you would like for your character to begin. You will have the option to start in New Haven if you wish. Young players can start where ever they like but the default will still be New Haven.