April 2004

GMN's Player Run Shard is entering BETA!!
Posted April 25, 2004 - 11:17 AM PDT by Adam Ant

We will be kicking off a CLOSED BETA within the next week or so for the new Angel Island Player Run Shard.

If you are interested, please reply to this thread and someone will PM you with the info. Aloysius or Jade will be stopping by to field questions. However, here are the basics. Angel Island is a Retro UO Shard circa p15 with enhancements. More important than the era is the philosophy behind the development. The OUO team has setout to build a solid and robust incarnation of UO that embodies all the things we loved about the early UO.

We here at game-master.net want to bring you everything that you loved about UO.
We have setout to create a shard where:  

• All play styles: We plan on embracing all play styles. Whether you are a merchant, craftsman, PvM’er. PvP’er, or PK… you will find a place on OUO. Role players are always welcome.
• In-game Murder System: The OUO team has worked hard to make Angel Island a reality. If you are not familiar with Angel Island; it was proposal for an in-game penal colony to deal with murders. It is setup with two overarching objectives: 1) Be fun, and 2) Take the murderer off-the-streets for a while. I think we’ve done a fine job of accomplishing these objectives.
• Managed Economy: We on the OUO team take the UO economy very seriously. We are carefully crafting an economy which should make life in OUO believable. (We’ve also put wealth tracking devices in place to put an immediate stop to wealth oriented exploits.)
• Weapons/Spells Balance: We are fortunate to have team members with an exceptional understanding of weapons balance. If you are a PvP’er, I think you will be really pleased with our system.
• Return of the Archer: One of the character templates I’ve always loved, and at the same time hated, was the archer. The archer has been the joke of warrior templates for far too long. We on the OUO team have made the Archer a viable template with the addition of poisoned arrows and carefully crafted reload timing. We had to pay special attention to the OUO Archer to make sure it remained a powerful yet balanced ‘pure warrior’ template while at the same time considering the hybrid use of this skill.
• Skilled Warrior: Warriors have often been accused of being nothing more than click-and-follow fighters. No more; the OUO warrior will have control of his (old-style) special moves so that they may be used at critical times in battle. These moves are macroable and entirely under the control of the Player.
• Old style goodies: Tinker trapped chests, magic trapped chests, paralyze spell.
• Treasure Hunter: The OUO treasure hunter will no longer be relegated to crappy loot. We on the OUO team feel that the treasure hunter should be rewarded with above average loot for the complex and highly specialized template. The OUO Treasure hunter will require both Detect Hidden and Remove Trap to access the chest. No more Mage/Treasure Hunter wannabes.
• And much more

Notes:  

• Characters created during any of the BETA cycles may be wiped before we go live.
• Set Skill is available during BETA for convenience only. It will be removed before we go live.
• As a BETA tester, you are expected to “test stuff!” You should report your finding to this board with a complete explanation of how to reproduce the problem. We also want to know about an shortcomings with regard to the special features mention above (poisoned arrows, treasure hunters, weapons balance, etc..)

Please Report all bugs and suggestions to this forum. Each bug report / enhancement request should be in its own thread. I hope you all enjoy Our UO… we’ve had a lot of fun putting it together. Take a look at our FAQ, it may answer some of your questions. PS. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the OUO team. We are really fortunate to have a development/design/lore team second to none in the industry.

--Adam Ant