As well from the UO newsletter: Live events about to get more serious

If you’ve been following the Live Event series, you’ve probably helped fight off an invasion, discovered mysterious pieces of black rock, and discovered Inu the Crone’s secret. As we move closer to the launch of Kingdom Reborn, more serious events will begin to occur, and small occurrences will begin ripples that will eventually grow to tidal waves. The world is soon to change forever, and it will be the citizens of Britannia who bring about a new age. To keep up to date on the in-game events, check out www.uo.com every Friday evening.

I want to jump in here for a second and say that out of all of my years going back to 1997, this year, putting aside the news of Kingdom Reborn (which deserves its own commentary), has been one of the most interesting, enjoyable, and “fulfilling” years I’ve had in UO - I felt that things were different back around March, and that the devs had a much firmer hand on the tiller, so to speak, than in past years, and so far, my feeling was right - one of the dev team members mentioned that UO was at times in a “maintenance mode” (in years past), and from about March of this year, it didn’t feel like that at all.

Everybody on the dev team has clearly been doing a lot, but I want to, once again, single out Draconi - this has been one of the most coherent story arcs we’ve seen, and is by now the longest running (and we still have a long ways to go before finishing it :woop: ). All too often in the past, the story arcs felt like they were simply there to provide a background for the expansions - that somebody came up with the expansion, and then drew up a story arc to fit with that. Not so, this time around. It feels like Draconi has worked to try and incorporate both Ultima and Ultima Online history a lot more deeply into the story arc. Quite a few times in the past, we’d have a story arc that revolved around an expansion or an event, and then it would very abruptly, and you wanted more. Well, we are getting it.

There’s more to this, and I’ll explain in a few minutes.

Also from the UO newsletter, this should be very entertaining:

Shard of the Dead Soon To Rise From the Grave

As busy as busy as the dev team is, there is one project that they are literally dying to bring to you. The dreaded Shard of the Dead will be returning later this month. Prepare yourselves.

In years past, this provided for several very entertaining evenings. I’m not going to say anything else, to keep from spoiling it for anybody that hasn’t had a chance to participate in these kinds of events/shards in the past.

FYI - UO.com says Origin received a publish this afternoon:

On Thursday, October 12, 2006, at approximately 4:30pm PDT (11:30PM GMT), we will be deploying a publish to the Origin shard.

The update will contain the following changes:

* Fixed an issue that was causing the account age to not display properly in the character profile
* New live event content

We expect the Origin shard to remain offline for approximately one hour.

This should cover the account issues some have been having, as well as provide the basis for the “special event” that was delayed from last week, concerning a special visit by a character familiar in the Ultima world, but not the Ultima Online world.

According to UO.com, looks like all shards will be receiving the same Publish that Origin and Pacific did regarding the Tokuno Treasures II update.

On Friday, October 7, 2006, at approximately 5:15pm PDT (12:15am GMT), we will be begin deploying a publish to the Korean, Taiwan, and North American shards. At approximately 6:15pm PDT (1:15am GMT), we will begin deploying a publish to the Australian and Japanese shards. The European shards will receive the publish at their normal maintenance time.

The update will contain the following changes:

* Treasures of Tokuno update

We expect each shard to remain offline for approximately one hour. This entire process may take a few hours to complete worldwide.

I’m thinking that instead of Friday, they meant Saturday, October 7, 2006.

This week’s Five on Friday has been posted at UO.com

All Five on Friday questions organized by category here at UOCodex.com

1. How long will Treasures of Tokuno II last?

Aaron “Darkscribe” Cohen, Producer: We’re planning to leave it active for one more week. We’ve made a few changes we think you’ll like.

2. When will Siege and Mugen players get to exchange character transfer and advanced character tokens for something else?

Aaron “Darkscribe” Cohen, Producer: We’re planning to have this in for Publish 43, and will give players the option to turn in these items for ublessed 7th Anniversary items.

3. What is the robed figure in the Ankh room doing?

Aaron “Darkscribe” Cohen, Producer: It seems to be some entity attempting to enter our world, yet still unable to do so. The figure appears more often when several people are around, but always flickers back into the ether. Several of our citizens have already come to their own conclusions and drug up old books and legends, but whether or not this is truly the “Time Lord,” as some have rumored, remains to be seen.

4. Do you plan to do something about the colored shrouds that seem to be everywhere?

Aaron “Darkscribe” Cohen, Producer: We’re getting close to implementing a solution for these shrouds. Stay tuned.

5. Will I be able to dye the curtains that are apart of the heritage collection? And will I be able to get to the roof of my castle with the new ladder?

Aaron “Darkscribe” Cohen, Producer: Yes you will be able to do both. For other questions you might have, please check the FAQ here.

Yesterday, according to the Britannia News Network, an Imperial Notice was issued warning the citizens about the collection of certain items that could be dangerous.

Imperial Notice
Oct 5 2006 6:14PM

The official inspectors of the Empire wish to inform the citizens that new items seem to have been collected by the various beasts of Tokuno. Some of these items appear to have strange properties and could pose a danger. The Empress does wish to thank those who are restoring the royal treasury and hopes the good citizens will continue to collect and turn in the Treasures of Tokuno.

Earlier notice/information: Imperial Decree: Treasures of Tokuno II

According to UO.com (FYI/Update), Pacific will be receiving the same Publish that Origin received yesterday:

On Friday, October 7, 2006, at approximately 3:30pm PDT (10:30PM GMT), we will be begin deploying a publish to the Pacific shard.

The update will contain the following changes:

* Treasures of Tokuno update

We expect the Pacific shard to remain offline for approximately one hour.

From UO.com:

Want to check out all the 9th Anniversary Collection Early Buyer gifts? Head over to the fields west of Castle British on the Origin shard where you can see these cool items for yourself! Keep in mind that these are not the final versions of these gifts, which are still in development.

Image from: www.uo.com/uo9/images/uo9house.jpg

Darkscribe mentioned last week:

Happy birthday to us! Ultima Online is nine years old, nine history-filled years. This game has defied expectations, pioneered new ideas, and built one of the most devoted, passionate communities in the MMORPG universe. To celebrate, a character from the Ultima single-player games will be making her first true visit to the worlds within the shards. That event begins October 6th (PDT). If you are a fan of Britannian history, you are in for a treat.

According to the UO Update/FYI page, it’s being delayed one week:

A slight change in plans Oct 6 2006 2:49AM GMT (PST +08:00)
The anniversary event we had planned for October 6th just isn’t going to be ready in time. There is a new system involved, and it turned out to be trickier than we had thought. The mysterious “she” that we mentioned will instead make her debut on October 13th, PST.

In the meantime, Treasures Of Tokuno Part II will continue for another week, and will have a few changes in store for this week.

Five on Friday has been posted on UO.com

For all previous Five on Fridays, organized by topic, please see the master list here at UOCodex.com

1. It’s great that the Treasures of Tokuno event is back. Do you have plans to do other events like this, but with new rewards?

Aaron “Darkscribe” Cohen, Producer:
Yes. There are a few variations that we are talking over and will experiment with. We’d like to make a system that isn’t just about combat, but also involves other disciplines like crafting, fishing, mining or others. That would bring players together with different interests and abilities and give them a reason to work together. We’re working on something along those lines and will roll it out when ready. I can’t give a timeline at the moment, but we like the idea a lot.

2. I love the 9th Anniversary stuff! Will we get to see any of this on the Test Shard?
(more…)