Shard Updates

Are We Getting PvP Arenas Soon?

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There is a very short blurb up on UO Herald today, posted by UO’s Associate Producer (Bonnie Armstrong), mentioning “PvP updates” and the Test Center being down:

We will be taking down TC1 to get ready for a PVP update. Please check stratics tomorrow for full details of all the upcoming changes.

We look forward to hearing your feedback.

I don’t know why they would post full details of upcoming changes on Stratics instead of UO Herald, but as soon as I hear about them, I’ll post them.

If you are unfamiliar with the Arenas concept, part of it was tied to the update last month that allowed you to directly copy one of your characters over to the Test Center. That’s copy, NOT transfer. You could then test out a character from a production shard on the Test Center. It would also allow you to take characters from one production shard and match them against other players’ characters.

Back in March, UO’s lead developer, “Supreem” discussed a bit about the need for character copy before arenas went into testing:

Supreem: It needs more work before it can go to a test center and we really want to make sure Character Copy is working before we open our arenas so that you can bring your live characters there, we don’t want to have to force you to spend hours setting up a character so that you can test arenas for us.

Publish 70.0.5 for Ultima Online to be Released on All Shards

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It was just a few days ago that Publish 70.0.5 went up on the Test Center and it looks like it is about to be available to the rest of us. As I mentioned previously, this is a publish with a few bug fixes, that is mainly focused on pushing new content out to the shards, and moving along the Stygian Abyss storyline as well as rounding out the unfinished areas.

These are the publish notes from earlier today:

Publish 70.0.5 will be release to all shards during the next maintenance cycle. These are the complete publish notes:

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

News: UO Herald

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

Theme Packs / Mini Boosters Available on UOGameCodes.com

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You didn’t think they were going to get the theme packs into the UOGameCodes.com store today did you? Well they did, pretty close to midnight my time.

The price is $9.99 apiece or $14.99 for both, the same as the High Seas Booster Pack. I can’t say I’m too happy about the pricing, but I’ll be upgrading one full account and possibly picking up an individual pack or for another account or two. I expected them to be individually priced in the $5.99 – $7.99 range, as the house tiles are considered by some to be incomplete due to no new doors or floors and roofs, and we don’t get the original see-through stairs. I don’t think the pricing was controlled by the developers, I think it was set by somebody within EA who maybe didn’t understand it, especially given that together they are the same price as the High Seas Booster Pack, and more expensive than the Stygian Abyss upgrades when they go on sale. In my view High Seas is worth $14.99, and I believe it has more content than the two theme packs combined.

With that said, I believe I understand why the packs are priced the way they are since they were probably priced by people who aren’t involved with UO, and I don’t think this will be the last of the theme packs. I just hope that in the future, pricing is cheaper and that the house tile sets are complete and that we see doors and floors that match.

It is what it is, and maybe now that these are out, the developers can turn their full attention to the artwork update, along with the Ter Mur storyline. It would be incredibly disappointing if the developers were forced to make more theme packs before they are able to finish the artwork updates and the Enhanced Client work.

UOGameCodes.com Store
* UO Rustic Theme Pack – $9.99
* UO Gothic Theme Pack – $9.99
* Grand Bazaar Pack – $14.99

Rustic Theme Pack contains:
* Board and Batten wall tiles
* Raised Garden Bed
* Distillery
* Topiaries
* Rustic Bench
* Commodity and Pet Broker Encampments

From the Rustic Theme Pack, I like the wall tiles, I like the garden bed – it’s maintenance free gardening. I am holding my judgement on the commodity and pet broker encampments.

I don’t like the fact that the distillery requires something that has to be stolen. To me, this is potentially another academic bookcase problem. It will be frustrating for some people, and that’s never a good thing for something that people are paying money for. See the issue with cannons, gunpowder, etc., and the High Seas booster.

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

From the Gothic Theme Pack, I really like the wall tiles although I would have also liked new floors and doors. Don’t like the Advanced Training Dummy – too many things are too easy in UO as it is, however I guess this is for new players. The Chest of Sending…I’m still not sure how that replaces a bag of sending, and I probably should look into it further.

Keep in mind that these won’t be live on all shards for several more days, if not longer!

New Magincia Bazaar aka the Encampment System

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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.