A new Five on Friday has been posted:

“The Boiling Cauldron from the Heritage Collection was a container when it was displayed on Origin - now it’s not. What happened?”

The Origin display house had unfinished versions of the display items, and the cauldron was not intended to be a container. However, many people have requested that it be made into one, and it’s relatively simple to do. But if we make it a container, it will require you to empty it out and re-deed it before you can customize your house (like the aquarium, elven containers, etc), so making it a container has some drawbacks. We’re happy to go either way with this one, so we’re asking your opinion - visit the poll on Stratics’s forums here and vote!

“AAAAH! I still don’t have my Veteran Rewards! My account age is STILL stuck!”

We’ve found the problem and we believe that we’ve corrected it - but the fix is not instant, and so you may see some account age weirdness over the next two weeks as all your characters get updated. Be patient just a little while longer, and you should be at the correct account age by 11/27/06 if not before.

As with all dates/times/weather reports, this is subject to change depending on our testing. This is our best guess given the information that we have at this time. Frankly, Sanya got a little too excited and jumped the gun when she gave the Stratics posters a date. But the programmer who gave her the information was just So Dreamy, she got distracted and didn’t wait for the test run to finish out.

“Does the 9th Anniversary Collection include a sixth character slot?”

This was not explicitly stated on the 9th Anniversary page - sorry for any confusion. Upgrading to 9th Anniversary will entitle your account to a sixth character slot.

“When Age of Shadows was launched, we were told that the ban on placing Keeps and Castles was temporary. That was a long time ago - when can we place those house types in Malas?”

Quite frankly, I searched uo.com six ways to Sunday and couldn’t find this ban listed specifically anywhere, so we had to look at the problem from the beginning. The purpose of the ban originally was, we assumed, to allow more players to place houses in Malas, rather than allow fewer players to place bigger houses. This still seems like a good idea, particularly because we are expecting new players to join the fun this spring with Kingdom Reborn. Also, people who were around for the launch of AoS searched their minds and hard drives, and found only evidence that Malas was intended to be mostly free of the large edifices. In fact, the only large houses in the area are promotional in nature.

So, for the foreseeable future, we’re going to keep the housing rules on Malas as they have been: “Castles and keeps, which occupy large plots of land, cannot be built on Malas in order to make room for more housing slots, ensuring that all citizens of Sosaria have a fair chance at home ownership.” This does not, of course, preclude us from changing our minds if at some point it makes sense to.

“This Halloween stuff is fun, but when are we going to get back to the storyline? I want to see Ricardo get what’s coming to him!”

Patience, patience. The wheel of justice grinds slow but exceedingly fine.

There’s your Five on Friday! Also, to follow up on the question about German ordering information that we posted last week, check out Sanya’s post about it here. Have a good weekend - I’m off to go hunt for the pumpkin with my name on it!

- Jeremy

From UO.com:

With Britannia experiencing a massive invasion of undead, with powerful forces in conflict over the very existence of Sosaria, and with Ultima Online: Kingdom Reborn on the horizon, now is a great time to return to the game you love.

From Nov. 7, 2 a.m. PST to Nov. 14, 2 a.m. PST, all closed UO accounts will be re-opened for free play. (This only applies to accounts in good standing. Accounts that were banned for misbehavior will not be re-activated.) In most cases, your characters and property will be intact and ready for play.

- If you need to re-install the game, you can download it here.
- After install, just log in with your name and password.
- Forgot your account name? CLICK HERE.
- Forgot your password? CLICK HERE.
- After Nov. 14, you can re-activate your account at www.ultima-registration.com.
- You can buy Game Timeâ„¢ codes and expansion pack upgrade codes at www.uogamecodes.com.

For more information on the Return to Britannia Program, click here.

Full Welcome Back to Britannia website

If you’ll remember, once upon a time, you could buy Ultima Online-oriented clothing (hats/t-shirts), posters, etc.

Guess what? The Mythic Store is now selling UO Collectibles once again. So far, only a pendant/keyring, but it’s a start! It’s been years since these types of things were available, and we welcome them (one can only imagine what will happen next year during the 10th Anniversary).

From the UO.com Update Center:

We are aware that Sherry the Mouse may be expressing some MegaCliloc issues. The Royal Veterinarian has investigated the situation and has assured us that she will be feeling better in very near future.

For more on Sherry, follow this link.

The Britannia News Network brings you more information about Sherry’s Return to Britannia.

World News :
Current Event : A Heroine’s Welcome Home
A Heroine’s Welcome Home
Saax Pannae Oct 13 2006 5:56PM

Yesterday’s problems at Castle British came to a swift and eventful end after a surprise appearance by Sherry the Mouse, who managed to almost single handedly chase off the horde of rats invading the castle grounds. For all her bravery she was quick to thank all the assembled citizens and guards who helped defend what she considers her home.

She seemed as surprised as anyone about the sudden incursion by the rats, but attributed it to weaknesses in the castle foundation. She even went so far as to explain that the rats seem to have broken into old underground vaults, something that would account for the strange coins several of the rats seemed to be carrying.

The Royal Commander, who seemed most enthused that Sherry had returned, asked her what sort of reward she wished for aiding in the defense of the castle and its treasures. Sherry explained that she had meant to return for good, and asked only the boon of a pillow to sleep upon! Taken aback, the Commander was happy to have the arrangements made, and we at the BNN look forward to more formal welcoming ceremony in the near future.

Note: Our readers may remember that Sherry, long missing from the intrigues of court and the castle environs, was the purported author of a famous book entitled “My Story.” A fascinating tale of the events surrounding Lord Blackthorn’s detachment from Lord British’s council, it was long regarded by many scholars to be mere fiction, as the veracity of the author’s work could never be verified. When questioned by the BNN, Sherry was quick to point out that she was, in fact, the rightful author of the work.

For more on Sherry, see this story.

She’s appearing here and there on all of the shards, and she’s made an appearance at UO.com (left image from UO.com/Ultima games):

Sherry the Mouse is Britannia’s famous talking mouse, featured as an NPC in Ultima VI and Ultima VII. In U6, the Avatar would often find her scurrying around the castle and popping through mouseholes to reach difficult destinations. It was even possible to add her as a party member, so you could retrieve a Rune of Virtue from a small cramped space only she could fit in!

In Ultima Online, Sherry the Mouse is responsible for writing the book “My Story,” one of UO’s more important books about the in-game fiction. She overhears the events surrounding the Time Lord’s visit to Lord British, and even exposes the true motivations of Blackthorn in rebelling against the Eight Virtues.

As you follow Sherry around you might notice that she:

* Talks to you, and answers questions about the Castle and Britannian history
* Has relationships with the NPCs in Castle British (She loves the cook, especially)
* Follows a daily schedule that includes: waking up, wandering about the castle grounds, eating meals, and going to bed
* Enjoys using the convenient mouseholes the rats who invaded Castle British leave behind
* Can squeak *really* loudly when she wants to!

- Tim “Draconi” Cotten, UO Designer

She can be very talkative at times, and at other times, very quiet. Keep that in mind when you visit. She’s also appeared at different parts of Castle British tonight.

Yes, my user name is a play on that - while I have seen Sherry and Sherri as spellings, my actual name is Sherri, it seemed natural.

The Britannia News Network has this newsflash:

Current Event : Castle British Under Siege!
Castle British Under Siege!
Saax Pannae Oct 13 2006 5:52PM

What is it this time, you ask? Ophidians? Orcs? The twisted denizens of Despise or Despair? Perhaps some sort of political problems amongst the nobility?

No, the Britannian News Network is amused and slightly befuddled to report that Castle British has a pest problem! In all my years as a reporter I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it. Hundreds and hundreds of rats have invaded the castle grounds!

The guards are making a valiant effort to quell the tide of vermin but seem to be making little headway. There appear to be a number of cracks in the foundation from which the horde of rats continues to poor forth. To add insult to injury, it already looks like they’ve done serious damage to the interior walls of the castle - tearing away at the mortar between bricks to make themselves small passages.

Castle British would like to invite any and all concerned citizens to aid the castle staff in bringing an end to this pesky pest problem. A few of the nobles have managed to lock themselves away in their rooms, and may also need assistance.

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

The special event that was delayed last week is apparently still on today.

Quick reminder (quoting Darkscribe from the article 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.

If you’d like some spoilers about tonight’s event, you can read this Stratics thread that reveals some of the changes with the latest client update.

If it’s true who the mystery character is, it’s ironic that I’m the one posting the thing.

As well from the UO newsletter, we get to welcome back a designer from years past - they are moving from the Past UO Developers to the Current UO Developers pages here at UOCodex.

Design team welcomes back Leurocian

The design team seems to be getting bigger all the time. In fact, just this week a familiar face took up residence in UO dev team bullpen, Patrick “Leurocian” Malott. Along with design lead Nick “DragonHead” Corea, senior designer Tim “MrTact” Keating, invasion architect Tim “Draconi” Cotten and builder of worlds Mike “Czarzane” Flinchum, this band of merry men are busy designing Ultima Online: Kingdom Reborn and adding to each and every live publish. And there’s more to come! Two more designers are on the way to help with the slate of projects we have planned. If you listen close, you can almost hear the hum of all those imaginations at work.

Developers Mentioned (Our UO Developer Pages):
- Patrick “Leurocian” Malott
- Nick “DragonHead” Corea
- Tim “MrTact” Keating
- Tim “Draconi” Cotten
- Mike “Czarzane” Flinchum

Before now, we had not seen mention of Nick “DragonHead” Corea - he comes from EA, having worked on several of the Jane’s Combat Simulations, as well as some of the James Bond/007 Titles as a level designer and artist, and with a tie to Origin/EA - he worked on Wing Commander III. Leurocian was a designer on Samurai Empire and Mondain’s Legacy.

This is great news indeed - this reaffirms my belief that 2007 will be one of the biggest years UO has had since its launch.