Another client patch has been released, version 5.0.6b, with details at UO.com (or below).

On Tuesday, October 31, 2006 at approximately 6:00PM PDT (November 1 - 2:00AM GMT), we will deploy client patch 5.0.6b.

Details for the patch are as follows:

* Modified Heritage Ladders to allow players to reach the roof of their castles and keeps
* Updated localization text
* Bump client version to “5.0.6b”

PLEASE NOTE:

* Ladders will require a follow-up patch to work correctly in the 3D client
* A follow-up patch will be required to update the art for two ladder directions

If patched correctly, your current version will display 5.0.6b 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.

We now present our seventh Week-in-Review (past Week-in-Reviews can be found here). Basically, a weekly summary of everything we have reported upon. This past week has mostly seen stories revolving around the UO: 9th Anniversary Collection and the Halloween-oriented events occuring as we speak.

General Game News:
Oct 26 (Th): Character Transfer Disabled
Oct 26 (Th): Origin to Receive Publish 43 Update
Oct 26 (Th): Worldwide Publish Schedule - Publish 43
Oct 26 (Th): Client Patch 5.0.5c
Oct 27 (Fr): Reminder - 100,000,000 Prize Gold Event on Lake Superior
Oct 27 (Fr): New Runes up on UO.com - Oct 27, 2006
Oct 27 (Fr): Client Patch 5.0.6a
Oct 27 (Fr): Five-on-Friday (Oct 27, 2006)
Oct 27 (Fr): Crystal and Shadow Houses Now Open on Origin
Oct 28 (Sa): Character Transfer delayed through Monday, Oct 30, 2006
Oct 30 (Mo): Publish 43 Update (Oct 30, 2006)

In-Game Fiction:
Oct 27 (Fr): And the Dead Shall Rise (Halloween, Shard of the Dead News)

Miscellaneous News:
Oct 30 (Mo): Ultima Online Collectibles are Back!

Just a quick reminder, UO: 9th Anniversary Collection should start shipping today, and start turning up in people’s hands later this week. It’s listed at Amazon and some of the other online stores as being available on the 3rd.

International orders can refer to this UO.com page for more information.

Just a quick reminder, The Dead Shall Rise with events on production shards, as well as the Test Center becoming the Shard of The Dead.

Full Details

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).

According to UO.com, there will be an update to Publish 43 (tonight Origin, everybody else tomorrow, October 31, 2006).

The update includes:

On Monday, October 30, 2006 at approximately 6:00PM PST (October 31 - 2:00AM GMT), we will be deploying a Publish 43 update to the Origin shard. All other shards will receive this update during their next scheduled daily maintenance period.

The update will contain the following changes:

* An issue where your evil twin would get you guardwhacked has been fixed
* Evil twin will now disappear if it fails to reveal its victim
* Once the Grim Reaper kills a target or if his target is dead, he will go back to his graveyard
* If the victim or the Grim Reaper enters a house he will go back to his graveyard
* The Grim Reaper will now give a random top attacker an artifact, not just the player who does the most damage
* Added a 50/50 chance of either spawning a black statuette or an orange statuette
* 9th anniversary beverages will no longer lose their names, and existing ones will have been fixed as well
* An issue that caused Halloween invasions to be too easy has been fixed
* Added dead trees into the selection of the heritage items

We expect the Origin shard to remain offline for approximately one hour. We do not expect any additional downtime for all other shards.

From the UO.com Update Center:

Character Transfer Delayed Oct 28 2006 6:12PM GMT (PST +08:00)

The maintenance period for the Character Transfer Service has been extended until Monday, October 30, 2006 at the earliest. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Once more tonight, from UO.com:

And the Dead Shall Rise

Last year was Shard of the Dead. This year, it’s Shard of the Dead II AND The Festival of Fright, two evil events for the price of one. Today is the launch of The Festival of Fright! Log in and see the gamewide invasion of the deadly decomposing, spreading their thrills and chills across every shard. Coffins will spring open and their occupants will dance on their own graves, and even dig new ones for the unlucky. Undead death dealers of all kinds will gleefully rampage through all of Britannia, looking for the unsuspecting to play tricks on. Treats might also available if you know who to ask and who to kill before they kill you. And be on the look out for the Grim Reaper himself. This is his one chance to party, and he doesn’t like his revelry disturbed.

The Shard of The Dead will launch on the evil day of October 31st. This will take place only on a Test Center, and will feature experimental insanity that we wouldn’t dare unleash on a regular shard. We’ll be trying a few new tricks this year, so be ready for anything.

From UO.com comes word that there are now houses open that use the new tilesets from the upcoming UO: 9th Anniversary Collection:

Tour the ultimate den of darkness and a glass house where its perfectly fine to throw stones. To celebrate next week’s launch of the Ultima Online: 9th Anniversary Collection, we’ve opened two new homes that show off the Crystal and Shadow housing tiles, along with the furniture that comes with them. They are just west of Britannia in the farmer’s fields on Origin shard. And don’t forget to peruse the Heritage house for another look at all the items that will be available. Click here for a map to the houses. (see below)

From UO.com, we have a new Five on Friday. Previous Five-on-Fridays can be found categorized here. This one mostly concerns the Halloween events currently going on, although a mention of Stealth in Publish 43 is made!

1. Will we receive any free gifts to celebrate 9th Anniversary?

Anne “Silvani” Pitkin, Assistant Producer of Pain and Pestilence: We will be giving out one random piece of either crystal or shadow furniture per character soon. We want everyone to experience some of the great pieces that come along with the 9th Anniversary collection.

2. What is the deal with the Evil Twin?

Patrick “Leurocian” Malott, Dastardly Designer of Death: Ah, yes. The Evil Twin. Nasty trick that. Evil Twins are dark manifestations that reside from a world ‘outside’ our own. They essentially have all of the traits, skills, and abilities of brave adventurers. It is rumored that the recent experimentation with Blackrock has weakened the fabric of reality and has caused a planar rift between our world and theirs.

3. How many different pumpkins are there? How rare are the black ones?

Tim “Draconi” Cotten, Wild Eyed Designer of Doom: The Jack o’ Lanterns are a special treat (or trick?) which burst into flames if you smash one on the ground! Just double click it and target it like you would an explosion potion.

Now for the black pumpkins: there is a very rare chance (1 in 90) that a Jack o’ Lantern will become hued black, and when used like a normal Jack o’ Lantern cause a much more devastating explosion.

Be careful though, these rare Jack o’ Lanterns act just like a Conflagration potion.

4. Will there be any further changes made to stealth in or after Pub43?

John “Wilki” Wilkinson, Community Coordinator of Coffin Filling: There won’t be any further changes to stealth in Pub43, however we’re planning to monitor the changes and adjust them if necessary.

5. What is going on at the graveyards?

Conrad the Soldier: Ne’er seen the like in all me years. A man fool enough to step more ‘an six feet into a graveyard is a dead man indeed, mark me words! ‘Tis as though the gates of Doom herself ‘ave opened up in our cursed cemeteries, and those awful stories we tell children went and came true. Well, I don’t have much to say - the mages went off to go find out what’s happening, but they haven’t sent any word beyond some sort of gobbledygook about “portals” and “dimensions” and whatnot. The thing is, and I don’t understand it meself, is that they only seem to appear at night!

Fah! All I know is that my blade’ll dispatch these horrors as well it does anything. Just keep out of our way, and don’t dare try and steal our spoils! I’ve seen some strange things on these corpses, and we mean to make back some gold for our troubles at the least.