Martok

For those of you who don't have access to the private boards, we are having an event on Monday, Aug 27th starting at 8pm eastern time. The event will last till late in the evening so all members may attend and have some fun. We will be doing some monster hunting of some sort (yet to be determined.) Hopefully, we will also be able to do some title changes/fixes for some of our members that have been waiting so patiently for so long.

AMD 700 128 MB of ram (burned out my other 128) Radeon 64mb Soundblaster Pro Since my puter was fixed, it seems to be acting like an old 486. I'll most likely be getting a new system before the end of the year.

A royal messenger found me late this eve and handed me a scroll. It twas from Aramis, son of Aramis of Yew. Though I have yet to meet the son of the former Regnent, he appears to be following in his father's footsteps. The Hand has made many accusations against the Keepers of Justice and myself. I would like to set the record straight once and for all and would like for the Yew Council to atttest to the following truths: Neither I, nor any other leader in our midst, have, at any time, requested any actions be taken against the Hand. The actions that have been decided have been decided without ANY input from the Keepers, period. The only words spoken to the Council were at the time I requested acceptance in the militia again and these words were spoken at a public Council meeting held in the Abbey. These words were as follows: "In the coming days I will present evidence as to the crimes commited by Hand members." With the exception of the questions I asked at the last council meeting regarding the warrants, these are the only words I have spoken to the Council regarding The Hand. I requested that the Keepers once again be considered for militia duty and have just this week been given the approval by the Council but have not discussed this with the Militia Captain, Lowgun, as of the writing of this scroll. With this being the case we could not be considered as trying to take over Yew or control the Council, I think thou doest give us too much credit for having WAY too much power. I state here and now that The Keepers of Justice wish only to serve the good citizens of Yew and to protect the Abbey from falling into the wrong hands (no pun intended). We shall, and always have, abide by the decisions of The Yew Council and the laws of Lord British.

News on the 2001 UO gathering: Come join the leaders in online multiplayer gaming deep in the heart of Texas at the Austin Convention Center on Friday, October 26th and Saturday, October 27th for our second fan event, the Online Worlds Fanfest 2001. Be one of the first people to witness and experience firsthand the future of Massively Multi-player Online Gaming. Participate in brainstorming and discussion sessions about every facet of one of the most popular online games, Ultima Online™ (UO). With over 35 informative panels hosted by developers like Stellerex, Tajima, Evocare, Prophet and others, as well as roundtable discussions and focus sessions, players can be sure to come away with new insights into UO and a better understanding of online gaming. Meet other players from your shard, and socialize with over a thousand other UO players from every walk of life. Talk one-on-one with Ultima Online's game developers, and get cool insider information on one of the most active online gaming communities! Also featured at this year’s event will be: Hands-on gameplay experiences from the upcoming massively multiplayer online games from Westwood, Maxis, and EA.COM. Special sessions with the development teams of upcoming and new EA games. Be the first to see what’s coming! Get the scoop directly from the creative forces behind these games with Q&A sessions featuring special guest speakers such as: Will Wright (Creator, The SIMS™); Gordon “Tyrant” Walton (VP and Executive Producer, The SIMS ONLINE™); Brett Sperry (Founder of Westwood and Chief Creative Officer) and many others. Meet, live and in-person, your best online friends and your biggest in-game rivals and reminisce over a tankard of ale at one of the two cocktail receptions following each day’s events. A chance to win fabulous prizes in one of the many contests. Registration Information

Newly Posted to Stratics: 1st circle spell Magic Arrow now uses Sulphurous Ash instead of Black Pearl and Nightshade 3rd circle spell Fireball now uses Black Pearl instead of Black Pearl and Sulphurous Ash 4th circle spell Lightning now uses Mandrake Root and Sulphurous Ash instead of Black Pearl, Mandrake Root and Sulphurous Ash 6th circle spell Explosion now uses Blood Moss and Mandrake Root instead of Black Pearl, Mandrake Root and Sulphurous Ash First tests show that the damage done by lower level spells, such as Magic Arrow, Fireball, and Lightning , have been increased so much that they have become very interesting spells to use in combat. Currently these changes are active on Test Center and the Baja shard only. Go check them out if you can. I have not tested any of these changes as of yet. It would be interesting to find out what type of damage changes magic arrow will now give.

I'm back from my vacation in the sunny Bahamas. Had a blast but I am sure glad I'm back. I think I need a vacation now to recover from my vacation! So......anything happened as of late??

Congrats Wolf! Best wishes to you and your new family!!!

I am afraid I can no longer socialize with you Koopsta, I do not talk to steelers fans!!! Being from Cleveland, I am a die hard BROWNS fan!!! You never have been to a football game until you sit in the dogpound painted up with a dog mask on!! GO BROWNS!!!

just an fyi: jabba is unable to play Martok...so Charlton Heston will be taking the role.

Did i take any of this personally? No. Never said that, and I don't think that. Would I leave the guild for this thread? Please....give me a break. I also see a reference to "ego". Was my "ego" bruised? Once again...please...give me a break. Do I want to see the thread removed? No. It was very funny....but then started to go downhill. The reason for my post was for what i said regarding the "speaketh with two tongues." Don't like what I had to say in my post? Too bad! I felt it needed to be said, and therefore I posted it. I never asked that people stop posting to the thread, but perhaps should have included maybe that it should be "toned down."

Those that have never lived in Columbus might think you were trying to be funny. Yet, in all seriousness, you are very true!

I won't dignify Kalinaf's or Baltazar's post with any sort of response. Let me just say I have serious problem with the way this thread is ending up. Remember what happened the last time there was a thread like this??? It started a mass exodus in the guild. How soon we forget. I also have a BIG problem with some of the members that are posting to this thread that were so quick to chastise those that posted in the old thread. I can see that some are beginning to speaketh with two tongues.

*chants DEATH* Computer is ate up bad. No, its not from some barnyard animal porn site. (Balt didn't think I could get on to see his post!) I am currently on my old 486 processor computer. *sighs* It might be a couple more days before they fix my computer, if they can. If not I will be buying a new one. *sighs* That is the last time I accept a file from Baltazar!!!! *tells everyone not to accept files from Baltazar ever* And just an fyi: Fing, no need to put my house up for sale again! Last time, I had 1 million icq's when I got back!!!!

I've been refreshing it as I stock my vendors. Don't worry.

testing 1 2 3

testing

Lance and myself traveled to the Balron cage for a little Ballie killing. But alas, it seems balrons have been made invulnerable to EV's! Between myself and Lance, we threw at least 15 EV's at the balron. Not a single bit of damage! We then started casting spells at the balron. VERY little damage from our magic! I am talking about two GM mages, one with high eval, the other with GM eval. After fifteen minutes I was too mad to continue, I left and logged out. What are they thinking? I hope this is just a "bug" that Ev's aren't working right. If not, my fate with UO has been sealed. It has been fun (not so much as of late) but I will be leaving. I plan on putting two of my accounts for sale this week on ebay. I will keep the account with Martok on it for a little while longer (most likely until shadowbane comes out). I would be willing to wager, when Shadowbane comes out there will be an overwhelming flood of UO accounts for sale on Ebay. Think of it as your next door neighbor putting toilets in their front yard with flowers in it, and painting their house pink. Property value is getting ready to go way down. I can see it now: 7X GM tamer accounts with castles....$50 or best offer! No thanks. I will sell my goodies before that time. If you ever wanted a GREAT account, your chance is coming. But be careful........when you pay that $50 for that great account, they will turn the switch at EA....and the world will go dark.

Departmental meeting? Its their company picnic! Don't let them fib! Its not too bad, we have been waiting long enough, a few more hours won't hurt at all.

:argue: Maybe not. No patch, none of the servers were taken down. I guess we have to wait and see what they have to say about this one.

Lan, Perhaps we could get together with a potion keg vendor. I have been operating one out of Fing's crossroad vendors ever since Gorion owned the place. The only problem is, I have a lot of trouble keeping up with it. I could spend a whole day grinding potions.....and then they're gone. The same with my scroll vendor.

ICQ me. I am a GM Tailor as well as a GM Scribe.

None of the posts on the boards have said. If you check previous posts, it is said that vet rewards are going to be part of publish 12. I would guess that it will be included. *crosses fingers*

Posted on FYI of UO.com: Publish 12 will be published to all remaining shards today, to be active following their next maintenance period. The schedule for these maintenance periods is as follows: All East Coast and Central shards (with the exception of Chesapeake) will be taken down for an unscheduled maintenance at 2:00 pm CDT, July 23rd. Japanese and Korean Shards will be taken down for their normal maintenance period on at 8:00 AM local time, July 24th (JST). European Shards will be taken down for their normal maintenance period at 5:00 am local time, July 24th (GMT). Siege Perilous will be taken down for its normal maintenance period at 5:00 am, July 24th (CDT). Formosa will be taken down for its normal maintenance period at 8:00 am local Taiwan time, July 24th. Oceania will be taken down for its normal maintenance period at 5:00 am local Sydney time, July 24th. AOL Legends will be taken down for its normal maintenance period at 5:00 am EDT, July 24th. The changes will be added to Latest Game Updates once the publish is active on all shards

Imperial scouts have brought words of a savages that have begun to band together. The scouts say that they call themselves "The Eaters of the Dead". Additional attempts by the House of Espionage have failed. All espionage plebes that have been sent to gather more information have not returned. This Saturday, July 21st the Imperial Legion shall take a force to search for this new tribe of savages. We shall gather information to determine whether or not they pose a threat to the Empire. Those with enough VALOR to attend please reply by scroll here.

Calandryll posted this overview of the scenario on the UO.com boards. How do you think the scenario went? What suggestions do you have? A few weeks ago, based on some requests from players, I promised I'd write a synopsis of the scenario, describe the goals, and write my view of what we accomplished. Ask and ye shall recieve: The Savage Empire Scenario Scenario Description Strange creatures (the savages) are driving the orcs out of their homes, which is causing the orcs to attack the player cities. The savages' reasons for doing so is not revealed...yet. Note, while the scenario title bears the same name as the single player Worlds of Ultima game and was inspired by it, it is not based on that game. The Savage Empire Scenario had 6 major goals: 1. Introduce players to the concept of scenarios and set the expectations. a. Since everyone reading this knows what a scenario is by now, I think we achieved this one. 2. Update new content into the game within a context (story) on an ongoing and uninterrupted basis (no delays or off-weeks once a scenario starts). a. With the exception of the Chesapeake shard, there were no delays, off-weeks, or interruptions in the scenario. b. We did split week 4 into two weeks (the orc bomber was originally supposed to be with the orc chopper and town attacks in week 4) to give QA more time to test, but most players didn't even realize the change to the schedule and it was a good example of fluid design. 3. Make sure new content is fun and useful and try to include as many play-styles as possible. a. Most feedback from players regarding the new monsters (especially the orc scouts and savages) was very positive. The new AI introduced worked well and players seemed to enjoy the challenged they presented. Good AI, with respects to monsters in a video game, does not mean "make the monster more difficult"...it means "make the monster fun and challenging." b. The interaction of the bola with savage riders (need to knock them off the ridgeback to tame the ridgeback) helped create some grouping, while not forcing it on those that like to solo. c. Some players played the scenario because of the story and role-playing. Some played it for the loot. Others enjoyed searching for the orc encampments and exploring the new dungeon. All of that is good. d. Most of the new monsters were texture changes. The artists did a great job making sure everything looked good as far as the Third Dawn models and most of the 2d replacement art looked good. 4. Introduce as few bugs as possible, fix any bugs by the next update, and don't impact other development. a. We published the shards nine times. During those nine publishes, we had no reverts and with the exception of the merge issue with publish 12 (which was not a problem caused by scenario code and only occurred on Chessie), we did not impact development at all. b. There were only two bugs of major concern released as part of the scenario. One was a shard crasher (happened once, was fixed an hour later) and the other was an issue with stealing caused by the orc mask (again, fixed within 12 hours of the first GM report). c. The majority of other bugs were fixed by the next week's update (what few there were) and overall, considering the amount of content and nine shard publishes in a row, our QA team did a bang-up job catching the bugs during testing before any of you ever saw them. d. We also had a lot of help from folks such as Prophet, Evocare, Vex, Adrick, and Groover working on things such as the looting rights change, client patches, making savage paint work (you have no idea how many changes we made to code that had not been touched in years to make this happen), and general design ideas. The team pitched in a lot while continuing to work on their systems. 5. Create a dynamic outcome based solely on code and systems a. While the dynamic outcome got a bad rap, actually, the code worked perfectly, the timing issue is what caused concern. The fact that it ended too quickly was a major disappointment for many players and one we plan to resolve in future scenarios. But, the way in which the code reacted to the players' actions proved that we can code dynamic outcomes without having to manually update or force anything. 6. Take the feedback from players on the first scenario and incorporate them into the next scenario. a. I'd like to concentrate on the last one. I've been reading the feedback and here is what I believe were the major concepts players wanted more of. - i. More in-game fiction. Books, scrolls, etc. - ii. Less camping...have some monsters spawn in random locations. - iii. More story in general (explanations and reasons). This is more a product of the fact that the Savage Empire scenario was more of a set-up scenario. You'll learn a lot more in future scenarios. - iv. More craftables and less that require fighting to get the resources. While I believe that having some craftables require fighting (again, encourages community group play - sorta the point of play an MMORPG) not all should. - v. Make sure the dynamic outcome lasts longer. This one goes without saying. b. While not all of these will make it into the next scenario, the feedback is useful and could influence future scenarios. Did I miss anything? -Jonathan "Calandryll" Hanna Designer, Ongoing Content