The October 13, 2006 edition of the Five on Friday has been posted on UO.com.

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

1. From looking at the new screenshots, it looks like we be getting horse blankets, saddles, and horse armor. Is this true?

Andrew “Ando” Woodruff, Assistant Producer: While this is certainly a possibility, the horses shown in the new screenshots are faction horses. The color of the horse is wearing represents the faction it belongs to.

2. Will you please extend Treasures of Tokuno II a bit longer?

Aaron “Darkscribe” Cohen, Producer: Since so many of you have asked nicely… YES!

3. I see that Leurocian is back! What is he working on?

Patrick “Leurocian” Malott, Designer: I’ve been working on additions and bug fixes for the heritage items such as adding fruit on the apple and peach fruit trees and allowing the curtains to open and close. I’m also working on design documents for UO: Kingdom Reborn as well as collaborating with our other designers on resolving ‘hot topic’ issues such as Evasion balancing.

4. We’re finding some new kinds of coins on the rats invading Castle British, what do they do?

Tim “Draconi” Cotten, Designer: Actually, they’re really *old* coins, from before Britannia switched to the simple gold piece system that we all know today. It looks like the rats managed to get into an old vault beneath the castle, because these have never been seen in the history of UO! They’re rather nice for coin flipping though. (Double click when they’re outside of a container, works when locked down as well).

Be careful though, I’ve seen quite a few merchants who are more than willing to accept them as legal tender. If you need to buy something, make sure you tuck these rare coins safely away first!

5. Who is Sherry the Mouse? What does she do?

Tim “Draconi” Cotten, Designer: You can read all about Sherry here: http://www.uo.com/sherrythemouse.html

From the UO.com Update Center:

On Thursday, October 12, 2006 at approximately 7:30PM PDT ( October 13 - 2:30AM GMT), we will deploy client patch 5.0.5a.

Details for the patch are as follows:

* Updated the tool-tip for two ToT item properties to reflect recent changes
* New crystal and shadow house tile art
* New crystal and shadow housing furniture
* New token art for crystal and shadow furniture, and Heritage Collection
* New art for the Heritage Collection selection menu
* Updated art for Heritage Collection furniture
* Client updates to support this week’s live events
* Localization updates
* Bumped version to “5.0.5a”

If patched correctly, your current version will display 5.0.5a for both clients. If you have any difficulty receiving this patch, please check the following:

Check the “Patch” directory within your Ultima Online directory (the default location is C:\Program Files\EA Games\Ultima Online\Patch). This directory should be empty. Any files in this directory should be deleted.

Run a virus scan on your computer. Undetected viruses may cause conflicts with patching Ultima Online. For information on up-to-date virus detection software, please visit http://www.mcafee.com/myapps/vso/default.asp.

If after trying the above, you are still experiencing difficulty patching the Ultima Online client, please visit this web page.

Looks like we are getting close to the 9th Anniversary Collection release, as a lot of the updates are geared for that. Interesting to see what “client updates to support this week’s live events” turn out to be….

Some retail sites are still showing a severe lack of information about the Ultima Online: 9th Anniversary Collection, either they are mentioning things that were in other expansion packs that are no longer valid, or in the case of Amazon’s listing , they have something like this:

* Ultima Online - The Second Age introduced the Lost Lands & the first in-game chat system
* Renaissance doubled the size of the game world, introducing new enemies & scenarios
* Third Dawn brought in 3D gaming, with a new 3D game continent, Ilshenar
* Lord Blackthorn’s Revenge brought in darker characters, improved game AI, in-game help and more
* Age of Shadows unveils the new land of Malas, with new character classes like Paladin and Necromancer & the ability to customize house designs

Note: It also includes Samurai Empire and Mondain’s Legacy. Some sites have this information, some don’t. It’s really interesting how the information is showing up.

One other thing - Ultima Online is still hanging in the top 100 or so as far as sales in the video game category (a category which includes all consoles and console hardware). It’s still ranking in the top 5 in Japan :woop:

From UO.com:

We are working with our marketing partners in Europe and Australia to make sure UO fans around the world will be able to buy the 9th Anniversary Collection. We apologize for the delay, and expect to be able to announce retailers and give direct links to stores soon. We will extend the Early Buy Bonus deadline in order to make sure all players have a chance to get the items in the Heritage Collection. Keep watching uo.com for updates.

In regards to questions posted in this Stratics thread, about dying and opening/closing curtains, and just what the ladder will be able to do, Draconi and Silvani chimed in with answers:

Draconi:

Yes, the ladder will really take you from one floor to another, and you’ll be able to open and close the curtains.

We’re working on the items right now, and can’t wait to show you the completed product!

Silvani:

Currently the curtains are dyeable with a normal tub, black tub, or special dye tub.

Silvani also fixed a gap in the curtains that were on display at the Heritage Collection Castle

These are items from the Early Buyer Program

The Ultima Online 9th Anniversary Collection FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) is located here (www.uo.com/uo9/faq.shtml).

Q: What is the last day I can claim my Early Buy gifts?
A: The cut off date is December 3rd, 2006 at 11:59 PM, PST. However, if international customers have yet to receive their boxes, then that deadline will be extended. We want to make sure everyone has a fair chance to get the Heritage Collection.

Q: Does the 9th Anniversary Collection contain Mondain’s Legacy?
A: Yes! The 9th Anniversay Collection gives you access to all UO expansion packs, including Mondain’s Legacy.

Q: How do I get my Early Buy gifts?
A: You will enter your upgrade code into the promotional tool, as described here. Nine tokens will appear in your backpack, which can then be used to claim one item (or item set) per token.

Q: Do I have to pick nine different Early Buy gifts, or can I pick nine of the same item if I want?
A: You can pick any combination of items that you choose, whether that be nine different items, nine of the same item or some combination in between.

Q: Do we get all four of the personal attendants?
A: You will get one personal attendant token that you can redeem for a personal attendant deed. This deed allows you to hire any of the four personal attendants; however each deed will only allow you to have one personal attendant at a time. You can dismiss your personal attendant and hire another personal attendant of any type anytime that you wish.

Q: How many houses can we build using the new house tile sets?
A: Once your account has been upgraded to the 9th Anniversary Collection entitlement, you will have unlimited use of the new housing tiles. To use the new house tile sets, follow the instructions here on how to upgrade your account.

Q: If I enter my promotional code into the promotional tool in-game after the Early Buy program has ended, what will I get?
A: You will receive a personal attendant token, and a token each for the crystal and shadow furniture sets. You will also get access to all UO expansion packs, including Mondain’s Legacy, and the new housing tiles by upgrading your account. To upgrade your account, please follow the instructions here.

Q: Which of the Early Buy gifts cannot be rotated or place in either direction?
A: These items only face in one direction:

* Trees
* Iron Maiden
* Fountain
* Rugs
* Tables
* Guillotine

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.

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.

If you are wondering about when information for international buyers of the 9th Anniversary Collection will be available, it’s still being worked out, according to a post on Stratics by Wilki:

“What about Europe, too? We’d really like to see it.”

We’d really like to tell you, but the details are still being worked out.

As soon as we have the info, it’ll be posted on the UO9 website.

So far, only information for US and Japanese players has been released.