January 2001

Third Dawn Beta Test Opening!
Posted January 30, 2001 - 12:32 PM PST by Adam Ant

Join the Ultima Online: Third Dawn Beta Test Jan 29 2001 11:02PM CST (GMT -06:00)

We are pleased to announce the opening of the Ultima Online: Third Dawn Beta Testing period. Come join us in testing the brand new look and feel of this latest version of Ultima Online.

We will be opening the Ultima Online: Third Dawn Beta CD Ordering site at 6:00 AM CST on Wednesday, January 31st. CD ordering will be available in three groups of 10,000 CDs. CDs will be available for the price of shipping and handling, and you must have an active Ultima Online account in good standing to complete your order.

Details and schedule information may be found at http://www.uo3d.com/beta.

Please remember, this is a closed beta period with a limit of 30,000 CDs. Additional opportunities to beta test this game will be available in the future.

What do you think of UO3D?

Quest Results – The Moment of Truth
Posted January 29, 2001 - 1:39 PM PST by Adam Ant

Congratulations to Druvirros, for defeating me and capturing the Book of the Undead.
I would also like to thank all that participated the other night.

Among these many seekers of Adventure, there were also those of great Napa fame. (Don’t think I didn’t see you Cardinal Fear, skulking about and trying to kill me)

Special thanks go out to the GUL leaders: Captain Beldin, Commander ToXiN, and Commander Spooof. There were also numerous Guardians that chipped in supplies, long hours of grinding potions, buying reagents, etc, etc..
You guys are the greatest!

One thing to note about the quest, is that the Guardians went into this knowing two things: They were going to take murder counts, and they were going to die.
My hat’s off to you all.

I would also like to thank the citizens of Britannia that came to take back their dungeon.
This was one capable group. (One might say, a scary mob!)

--Adam Ant

The Book is Lost!

Testing for Next Update
Posted January 25, 2001 - 10:50 PM PST by Adam Ant

Testing for Next Update - Spawn Changes Jan 25 2001 7:29PM CST

I just found this on Testing for Next Update.
Now it may just be me, but I'm having a hard time parsing this paragraph.
Here you give it a try:

The way creatures spawn within UO has been changed to a more dynamic and reactionary system. The new spawning system will allow for better system control over how creatures spawn within UO, and will allow for better defined and detailed dynamic spawn changes. As a result of better control over the spawn system in UO, spawn behavior may alter. We will continue to watch the spawn rate, and make changes as necessary.

Did that make any sense to you?

All I heard was: Spawn spawn spawn spawn, and spawn spawn spawn spawn spawn.

*shrugs* I guess spawns will change somehow.

--Adam Ant

Veteran Rewards Deactivated
Posted January 22, 2001 - 8:05 PM PST by Adam Ant

From the UO.com FYI:

Due to issues with the veteran rewards system, we have deactivated the system on all shards. At this time, we do not have an updated schedule for when they will be reactivated.

We strongly advise players not to participate in selling, trading, or buying existing rewards until further notice.

We will update you again once we have additional information.

The Man Quits.
Posted January 17, 2001 - 5:22 PM PST by Nieves

Lum the Mad quits.

Ain't that some shi... ?

Good Luck Lum. You kept it real.

Hasta.

Beta Testing UO 3rd Dawn coming soon
Posted January 17, 2001 - 4:25 PM PST by Beldin

Direct from UO today...
Be the first on your block to experience the world of Ultima Online: Third Dawn - your opportunity to join the UO: Third Dawn Beta Test is coming soon!

We’ll be launching the official UO: Third Dawn Beta Test in the next several weeks, and will provide at least 48 hour advance notice prior to the opening of the Beta CD website. Once the website is open, a limited amount of 30,000 beta CDs will be available for order.

During the ordering period, players with active Ultima Online accounts (in good standing), will be able to order an Ultima Online: Third Dawn Beta CD for the price of shipping and handling. Players participating in the Beta test will be required to sign a Beta Tester Confidentiality agreement.

Additional details on the Beta signup process will be posted in the near future.

Ultima Online Review
Posted January 17, 2001 - 9:06 AM PST by Adam Ant

Ultima Online Review

Tuesday, January 16, 2001

Now approximately two decades old, the Ultima universe has been and continues to be one of the richest RPG environments ever created. The online counter part to the single player series debuted in 1997 with overwhelming success among its fans, perhaps too overwhelming. Although it wasn’t the first graphical online multiplayer RPG, Ultima Online founded and populated a new genre, laying out the basis for future persistent worlds. Origin’s creation has earned its place among the most influential games ever made in the same line with Westwood’s Command and Conquer (real-time strategy) and id’s Doom (first-person shooter). Essentially, Ultima Online has paved the path for what is now one of the most competitive branches of the gaming industry – the Massively Multiplayer Online RPG genre. However, due to its exclusively multiplayer nature, Ultima Online had to assume a much greater risk than its genre counterparts did.

Visit the reviewpage for the rest.

Come get your Ethereal Horse HERE!
Posted January 16, 2001 - 5:37 PM PST by Nieves

Publish Update - Veteran Rewards
We are currently targeting to release the Veteran Rewards to accounts aged 36 months or older on all non-Japanese shards on Wednesday, January 17th.
The rewards will be activated on these shards following their return from regularly scheduled maintenance. We are working to resolve a localization issue on the Japanese shards and will activate rewards to these shards on a separate schedule if necessary.

We will monitor the activated shards for any issues that may arise. We are tentatively scheduling to release Veteran Rewards to accounts 12+ and 24+ months of age or older (in addition to the 36+ month accounts) following regularly scheduled maintenance on Thursday, January 18th (local shard time). Shards which do not have scheduled Thursday morning maintenance will receive their rewards following maintenance on Friday, January 19th. As with the 36+ month activation, this schedule includes only non-Japanese shards.

Important! Veteran rewards are distributed by account, not character. You are granted a total number of rewards to be divided among any characters on your account. If you do not normally play on a shard, you SHOULD NOT choose to take rewards on that shard. Veteran rewards will not be transferred between shards.

More information regarding specific details of the various types of rewards, and qualifications for getting those rewards, can be found in Testing for Next Update.

Well Adam, looks like you can have your horse now :)

Hasta.

Why UO:Third Dawn is important
Posted January 15, 2001 - 2:30 PM PST by Adam Ant

How will you be able to add monsters and items with greater ease? If you do add new items will these only exist in the 'new' lands?

Any new items, sound, music, wearables, or monsters added will be able to be added to any part of Britannia and NOT restricted to one area like T2A. There are a couple reasons why. One, the reason we couldn't add a new wearable in the past is because a wearable is yet another animation. Add up the animation frames in 5 directions for all 35 player animations and you end up with a very sizable, prohibitive download to patch. Just wasn't possible. With 3D, that same item is a fraction of the data size. 3D items do not have to be rendered per frame like 2D animations so you save a lot of data space. The 2D users will benefit from new items, new monsters, etc, however, they will see "default" art. So if we added a new monster for UO:Third Dawn, the 2D players will see that new monster as something like a black ettin. (Runesabre)

So, reading between the lines a bit, we can assume that:
1. Origin is not obsoleting UO for UO2
2. Adding the 3D engine will allow many new and exciting visual enhancements
3. They will be implementing my Angel Island proposal in its entirety

Heh, well maybe not #3 :)
But examples of exciting visual enhancements would be to show stuff like the archers quiver worn her back, or to show the swordsman’s scabbard hanging from his belt.

This is quite likely the most important enhancement Origin has ever taken on.
I also read this as a clear sign that Origins loves us very much and wants us to continue to play UO for a long, long time.
(Did I say ‘play’? I meant to say ‘pay’.)

--Adam Ant

Comments?

Sonoma Veteran Rewards Deactivated
Posted January 12, 2001 - 11:43 AM PST by Adam Ant

I just found this over at the Origin website:

Sonoma Veteran Rewards Deactivated Jan 11 2001 9:17PM CST (GMT -06:00)
Due to issues with the system, veteran rewards have been temporarily disabled on the Sonoma shard and the shard will be brought internal and reverted to approximately 4:00PM PST.

Well, it looks like the Veteran Rewards are to be delayed again :(
I guess I don't really care too much. I don't really want any of that stuff except the Ethereal mount and maybe the leather dye tub. Nah, just the Ethereal mount.

If you've ever seen my two-story, you know I'm not really big on collecting junk.

The Ethereal mount, bless deeds and the Endowed Spell Book (I proposed) are all worthwhile gifts. I just can't get all happy over a copper colored cloak.

Well, the Ethereal mount is a 3 year gift, for which I'm not eligible. The bless deeds were yanked as a gift and OSI won't do an Endowed (rechargeable) Spell Book.

*sigh*
Anyone on Napa selling an item bless deed?
email me!

--Adam Ant

Comments?

Yes, I still post news...I am just a lazy ass.
Posted January 5, 2001 - 5:16 PM PST by Nieves

We are currently targeting to release the Veteran Rewards to accounts aged 36 months or older on the Sonoma shard on Monday, January 8th. The rewards will be activated following the shard's return from regularly scheduled maintenance.

We will monitor the Sonoma shard for any issues that may arise. We are tentatively scheduling to release Veteran Rewards to accounts 12-and 24-months of age or older (in addition to the 36-month accounts) following regularly scheduled maintenance on Wednesday, January 10th.
A release schedule for the remaining shards will be available on Friday, January 12th.

Veteran rewards are given out based on account age, not characters, so please remember that if you are not a regular Sonoma player, and choose to accept a veteran reward on the Sonoma shard, you will not be able to transfer this award to your regular shard, and you will have debited your overall reward choices.

More information regarding specific details of the various types of rewards, and qualifications for getting those rewards, can be found in Testing for Next Update.


::starts clearing a place on his desk for a Lich Statue and a Furniture Dye Tub::

Hasta.

You know you're doing okay when...
Posted January 4, 2001 - 8:58 AM PST by Adam Ant

..Stratics contacts you and wants you to run an ad for them!*bows to the gods of Stratics*

This is why I write stories
Posted January 4, 2001 - 8:51 AM PST by Adam Ant

Holy Shit! Hahahahahahahaha!!!

Dude, browsing websites at work then I come across this banner ad, saying who needs AI when you got me, then I see your chars face, all smiling and happy. So I go to the website...
OMFG, I was almost laughing out loud. Some of the things you say, the stories and that one story about the guy with the green armor...HAHAHA I have *been* that guy so many times, so funny to see it all laid out like that: The setup, the kill, the wrap up...soooo funny.

Anyway I played UO for a few years, went from Mr Nice guy with house to bloody murderer killing everything in sight. Your view is by far the coolest outlook on the game.

What server are you playing on and are you taking on any students?
I can make about 4 GMs in about a week if I try. I play AC now but UO is me bread and butter. I can roleplay with the best of em, but you seem to be having a blast, mind if I join ya?

-----------------------------

I get lots of email. Everything from players wanting to know the best PvP tactics, wanting to join GUL, wanting the latest UO exploit or wanting to know what shard I’m so they can come and KICK my A$$ :)

But it's email like the one above that keeps me writing the tales.
Thanks for reading!

--Adam Ant